Sun's New Moon
by Emmarina
Summary: A traitor, street rat, runaway, and criminal. Yet she's still a survivor. For now. Biography of Helia Selene Neoma, unclaimed Camp Half Blood Camper for six years and survivor of the Second Titan War
1. Messanger Angela

**Message from the Main Character: This story may not start with the chilling battle scenes of betrayal or the love story of rising idiotic romance, but it starts with the first person that introduced me into the world of Olympians. She never gave it away at first but she gave me chance to see it all in the main land of the Olympians, even if it meant that I had to be in someplace completely different and unknown from where I had been born. But as you read this story, you find that I encounter anyone and everyone from the Percy Jackson Series. So, I give you one dare from now and on: read my story, and then Percy's. You'll see how things **_**really**_** were before he came along… **

I looked out my window.

She was still there.

That girl from the streets, always sitting on that one bench in the park, wearing that smug look on her face like she was waiting for someone. Every time I glimpsed outside she would be in my view, filthy clothes on, hair in a messy ponytail, and backpack by her side like it was a part of her soul. She had caught me staring at her a few times, and once she had even motioned me over with the wave of her hand.

I had pretended to not see her.

"Selene, what are you staring at?" Elise asked me. She was one of the girls here at the orphanage; she and I shared the same dorm on the highest floor in the smallest room. We didn't really mind each other, considering that she's almost seventeen and I'm barely a week away from becoming ten. We got along just fine.

"Nothing." I lied. I closed the curtain shut and rubbed my arms harshly, feeling the blood run through my veins again. "God, it's freezing in here. Can't you turn the heater up? I'm turning into an icicle!"

Elise laughed. "I wouldn't worry about the temperature if I were you. Don't you have a big test coming up anyway? You should get to studying; Sister Paige says that if you fail another test you'll be held back. Again."

I sighed, rolling my eyes like I always do. "I'm dyslexic for crying out loud! How can I study for a test when I can't even read the words off the page? Its torture!"

"It may be," Elise came up and hugged from me behind, "but you're grades are getting really low, Selene. Even a five year old could do better than you."

I clenched my teeth together and pushed her away, not meeting her eyes. "Thanks." I murmured. "For reminding me that I'm not good enough. You're a real help you know." I walked over to my bed and slipped on my sweater and hat, not wanting to talk anymore.

"Selene, I didn't mean it like that."

"Yes, you did." I muttered. I slipped on my shoes and socks, my teeth biting my lower lip. "I'm going out." I announced.

"To where? Sister Paige will have a fit when she finds out!"

"I don't care." I hissed. I grabbed my gloves and scarf and headed for the door. I slammed it hard on my way out, its noise echoing through the corridors.

I ran out of the orphanage and into the London streets, feeling the bitter cold of January touch my fingers and face.

"No good orphanage," I mumbled to myself. "Always trying to make me into someone I'm not. Giving me tests and trying to teach me like it's actually something worth doing. Ha! Like they would actually care whether I succeed or not. Sister would just be happy that I'm out of the way. She wouldn't have to deal with a dyslexic and ADHD kid again. That old sot." I kicked the lump of snow infront of me and watched as it glittered into the air than back down again on the street. "Worthless case." I sputtered.

"Sorry Helia, did you say something?"

I spun around and there she was; that girl from the park, the one who I always saw out my window. She was standing there behind me, grinning like a love struck puppy. From up close she seemed to be in more of what I would call homeless, but yet she seemed…experienced. Like an old wise woman that was really only fourteen years of age. I held my suspicions that this girl had to grown up too fast, like she didn't have time to be a child and run and play like all the others. I found myself holding my breath when I looked into her deep blue eyes.

"H-how do you know my real name?" I stammered. "No one ever calls me Helia anymore. I go by Selene now."

The girl smiled, it would've been perfect except for her lack of good hygiene.

"Well, I guess I'm gonna have to call you Selene then." She had an American accent that just drew me in. "Well I just came by to give you some stuff that I was told to deliver."

"Deliver?" I echoed. "From who? I've never gotten anything from anyone in my whole life!"

"Ah, but now you do. Here," she held out a small black rectangle. From the buttons on it I could tell that it was a music player with a set of black earphones. I took it from her gingerly and examined the foreign writing on the back. It seemed to be Russian. Maybe even Greek.

"Your very own MP3." The girl went on. I noticed that she used her hands a lot when she talked. "Your grandfather and uncle said to give you it first, that it would be the best part of the package for you."

"I don't have a grandfather," I stated. "Or an uncle. Or anybody. I'm an orphan."

She smiled softly and her eyes twinkled, "maybe you don't. But my father was told to give it to you; that it was from them. And I'm just the messenger really."

"Messenger." I mumbled. "Right."

"Hey, don't worry!" she reached into her messenger bag and took out a white envelope. "I got some more packages for you. This ones from my father personally. Here yeah go."

I took the envelope as well and didn't know if I should open it immediately. My mind told me that it was something to look at when I was alone, not with some stranger.

"Who are you?" I asked out of nowhere. "Do you even live here?"

"Oh no!" she exclaimed. "I'm a gypsy messenger. I don't really have a home now since I travel all around delivering packages for my father; but I do hope to live in New York again someday. In this little strawberry farm actually, its just right of off Long Island Sound. You should visit someday maybe. They have the best strawberries there."

I smiled just to be polite. "That'd be wonderful. How come you have to be delivering packages for your father? Shouldn't you be in school or something?"

She laughed, sharing her own little joke with herself. "No thanks, I'd rather run around a whole city than sit at a desk all day. Its just one of the things I love about my inheritance from my father."

"Who _is_ your father?"

The easiness in her voice dropped slightly. "Oh, he's a really busy man. But um, hey. I have a package left for you. this one I was told to be very gentle with." She handed me a piece of silver fabric she had kept in her pocket.

I unwrapped it carefully and inside I found a glimmering golden necklace with a beautifully crafted circle pedant. I held it up at arms length and just watched as it captured the sun's light. It must've been worth a thousand pounds or more. Wait, no that's wrong. The necklace was absolutely priceless.

"Wow…" I breathed. "Who- who's this from?"

The girl clenched her teeth together and looked at the ground. "Um, actually it's an anonymous delivery, so I don't know who's it from. I'm sorry."

I shook my head and buried the necklace back in its silvery cloth. I figured that one of the orphanage girls would try to steal it first chance they got. "Its okay. Thank you actually, um…"

"Angela." She said solemnly. "My name's Angela."

"Angela." I repeated. "Thank you Angela."

She smiled and tilted her head, she reminded me of a puppy more and more. "Your welcome. Well, I best be going now." She slung her messenger bag further up her shoulder and gripped the handle loosely. "I'll see you again someday maybe. But for now, just stay alive 'kay?"

I furrowed my brows. "Why would I need to take caution for staying alive?"

She sighed like she knew something I didn't. Her feet started moving as she walked backwards down the street. "Someday you'll see why, Selene. For now… just be glad that you're not ten years old yet. Consider it as a blessing."

She turned around before I could respond and started running, reaching the border of the playground then gliding past it like it was invisible. I watched her silently with pressed lips and numb ears.

What had Angela meant? 'Someday you'll see why Selene. For now… just be glad you're not ten years old yet. Consider it as a blessing.' I thought hard and took a deep breath, feeling paranoid-ia slip into my mind.

'Consider it as a blessing'…


	2. What Should I Do?

I sneaked into the dorm just as everyone else gone to supper. I slipped of my shoes carefully to set them next to my bed without getting too much of the carpet wet. My skin felt numb after I took of all of my extra clothing and the freezing temperature didn't bother me anymore. I propped down onto my bed with my arms as the replacement of the pillow I should've washed yesterday.

_What should I do? _

My hand went into my pocket where my fingers clasped over the tiny mp3 and fiddled around with its earphones. I wanted to just throw the thing out the window with everything else that Angela gave me, but I knew that this wasn't a joke.

Someone _had_ given me these things. Someone _had_ taken the time to mail them of and expect them to be delivered to me. Someone _had_ done all of this, but why though?

Angela said that my uncle, grandfather, and her own father had given me most of the gifts. Why? Why had they chosen _now_ to give me a present when they could've just ignored me in the first place? And why did they choose Angela to deliver them? Not someone with more age and experience… Did they _have_ to have their own personal messenger do the job? It just didn't make any sense to me.

But something bothered me the most, something that I just wouldn't let my hopes get too high on:

If someone _were_ out there, someone that maybe actually cared about me, would he or she be able to take me in? Give me a family, two loving parents, and house that I could actually call home? Would they be able to do all of that and give me a life that I actually _deserve_? Would they?

No, probably not.

I only have only one memory of having a family, and that memory isn't even a good one: it's too horrible, terrifying, and not something I want to think about because I was only three when it happened. Three I tell you! Three!

The knob on the door rattled and shook, violently someone was about to get in and wonder where I've been. That someone was going to be Sister Paige. I could just tell that from the way she wouldn't knock like the all the other females here. And Sister Paige was also not someone I wanted to anger…

"Open this door at once!" she hollered.

I sat up first thing and looked around at what to do. Hide? Block the door? Scream and pretend that I was being murdered? I did the only thing that would come to mind: I grabbed all the stuff that I could carry in my empty school bag, and leaped out the window into the bitter cold night. And before I even knew it, I was running down the lamp lit street followed by Sister's monstrous yelling:

"Helia Selene Neoma you get over here this instant!"

I didn't glance back but I knew that she was at my window with Elise by her side, calling out my name as though she were a sparrow.

"Selene! Come back! Please! Selene!"

'Til now do I only realize what would've happened if I turned back.

Good thing I didn't.


	3. Starting New Lives Together or Alone?

The night sucked blood.

I was cold, tired, and hungry. I felt like a homeless dog when I scampered around dumpsters and rubbish piles, searching for something edible and filling. I had the worst luck though, nothing came to me through this trash piles. Only a few homeless men waiting to steal my pack and valuables. I was paranoid when I had to walk past them on the sidewalk.

Don't make eye contact. Don't speak. Don't breathe loudly. Don't do anything that would give an invitation to speak. Just stride past and go along with finding a place to sleep.

"Hello miss." A bug eyed man tipped his hat in front of me and let me catch glimpse of his brown eyes. I smiled politely and stepped faster, aware of the white mist coming out of my mouth.

It was so cold…

"What are you doing out here all alone little girl?" a woman stopped me on the street. She had a gigantic black purse at her side along with the hand of the toddler standing by. I let my pulse race fast as I stammered out, "just going for a walk madam. Nothing big."

The woman looked at me closely but didn't say more. She only pressed her lips together as she grabbed something from her purse and handed it to me. I took it carefully and realized after a second that it was money. Lots of it. Pounds and pounds of money…

"Don't get yourself in danger little miss." She said softly. "It's a big world out there." (If only she knew what kind of danger I would be going through from then on…)

I nodded my thank you and eyed the small white dots falling from the sky. Snow. Oh this is bad…

"Good night miss. Bless your young heart." The woman whispered. She took her child's attention away from me and went off into the night, leaving me with nothing to call her back for.

Bless your young heart…

Bloody hell I was feeling more and more like a street rat every second. Wouldn't be long before my clothes are ripped away from my very own back. I had to be careful around here. Nobody would find a little nine year old dangerous in this place, I had to get some protection.

Running along faster and faster, I found a small café in the corner of town. Henry's Haven, it was called. Inside people were talking cheerfully and laughing loudly, knocking their glasses together in a gesture of good times. I twitched at just watching them having such a great time with their mates. If only I could join in on their happiness.

"Well?" somebody said behind me.

I turned and saw Angela for the second time, only this time she looked cleaner and better groomed. Her hair was down and she didn't have her messenger bag anymore, only a small pouch and tiny strings dangling from her jean pockets. My eyes flinched when they went up and saw that familiar puppy dog smile.

"Are you going to go inside?" she asked randomly.

I nodded without thinking. My instincts made me open the door to the café and hold it open for Angela.

"Thanks." She guided me to a table in the corner of the café and ordered me a drink of hot coco just for my sake. I didn't know whether to protest or not. But hey, she was buying me something. Might as well take advantage to it.

"So why are you here?" I said once we were alone and all warmed up.

"I was checking up on the city." She said as-a-matter-of-factly. "Making sure that London wasn't…out of the ordinary."

"Why would it be?" I shrugged. My words might've come out a little too harsh.

"It's because you never know," Angela reminded me, "something tragic could happen and all of a sudden you're life changes forever. Sure makes a huge difference to when you're growing up."

"You sound like you've experienced that." It wasn't a question.

Angela pressed her lips together as the waiter came and supplied our hot chocolates. I drank mine gingerly as I waited for her to respond.

"You're experiencing it right now." She said at last. "Right as we sit here, you're life is changing as the seconds tick by."

I almost choked on the beverage. I set it down and wiped my mouth with a napkin. Trying to sound innocent, I asked quietly, "what are you talking about? My life isn't changing in any way." (I admit, even to my ears that sounded a lie.)

Angela raised one eyebrow and cocked her head to the side. Her brown bangs added to the older woman face she wore. "Oh really?" she mocked. "Then why do you have a backpack? Why are you out all alone way past a child's bedtime? Why are you here talking to me when you should be back at the orphanage sleeping and making haste for tomorrow?"

Skittles, she had me there.

"Face it Selene, I know you're running away."

"So?" I spoke the word with venom and annoyance. "I just want a different life, a place I can call home; a group which I can call family. Is that so bad?"

"No. of course not." she answered. She took a long sip from her mug then said slowly, "That's why I want you to make a decision."

My senses opened up. I sat up straighter. "I'm listening."

She grinned that puppy dog look again and flipped her hair away from her face. "You have two options Selene: you can either go back to the orphanage, grow up there, and be the person that everyone wants you to be. Or…" she leaned back and crossed her arms to add to the effect. "You can come with me and we can both start new lives."

I gaped and closed my falling chin before she could notice. "A-a new life? What do you mean by that? As in like us two… going off on our own and seeing the world?"

She drank the rest of her hot chocolate and smiled warmly, "I knew you'd understand Selene." Her elbows touched the table and she leaned in closer to me, her voice almost matching a whisper. "You see Selene, we could go off to America, see New York, live it real there. Even meet a few famous people and visit an old home of mine."

My eyes widened and I grew excited. I wanted so badly to leave London behind… "Would we get a real home and a family?"

"Of course," she exclaimed, "maybe even a loving husband and a few wonderful children to call our own. It'd be like living a storybook novel."

I was drawn into her just like that. She was offering me what I had always wanted, and right there I could grab it and keep it forever. To my mind then, nothing could compare to that.

I got out of my chair and didn't let go of the excitement I traced. "When do we start this journey?"

"tonight." She stated. "Tonight we leave for America and start it of new. You ready?"

I grabbed my backpack of the floor and hanged it over my shoulder. "All ready."

"Perfect." Angela grabbed my hand and we walked out of the Henry's Haven together out toward the airport. I was mingled with excitement the whole time walking.

The only regret I had for that night was not asking if we were going to start new lives together. Since from what I've learned in my years of life is that people can twist your words easily. Sometimes without even knowing it themselves…

Damn regret.


	4. Angela's Past and Silvery Gold Necklaces

Strange to say, I wasn't scared that night.

But there I was, boarding a plane with my tiny schoolbag, a stranger, and only my nine year old mind to keep me alive and secure. The snow was coating my auburn hair and creating white freckles onto my face, melting once they reached the heat of my body. I shivered and looked back at London before fully getting on the plane.

My birthplace's lights were still on, some on trees leftover from the Christmas holiday. There were people walking about and chatting uncaringly under the moonless night, and the cars in the city weren't honking or speeding like in the day. I could see the grandfather clock from where I was, one minute to midnight it read. I glanced away before I could watch it chime with the hour.

The plane inside was so awesome.

It was for sure first class. Leather seats, a snack bar, polished oak tables; a bathroom complete with a shower and bathtub and also a whole room dedicated to packages and packages of mail, the whole plane itself was worth more than my ex-orphanage! I totally loved it at first sight.

"You can sleep with me over here," Angela lead me over to the back of the plane were to a nice set of double bed bunks sat and waited for someone to sleep on top. I traced the edges of the closest bunk and felt the soft fleece blanket that would soon be all mine. The design had images of peacocks, eagles, little white doves, ravens, all sorts of birds flying through the wind. I immediately wanted for that bed to be mine.

"The 'kitchens' over here if you're hungry," Angela nodded toward the snack bar and quietly pointed out the mini refrigerator. "You should probably eat something before we head of to bed. You do know how to work a microwave right?"

I nodded. Sometimes when Mistress would punish me with no supper, I would sneak into the kitchens and warm myself a portion of soup. The microwave in the plane wasn't that different from the one in the orphanage.

Angela walked over the polished oak table and sat her messenger bag on top, sighing with relief of no more extra weight. She looked tired and exhausted, energy sucked from delivering packages all around London probably. I took a closer look to her puppy dog blue eyes and saw something I had never noticed before: grief. Grief from having no home, having to move around a lot, having no people to move around with. Maybe that was why she was desperate to have me start a new life with her, because she was lonely.

"Angela," I said slowly, "do you have any family?"

My question caught her off guard. Her eyes brightened then went back to normal aft a second or so. Her smile returned to her lips as she said, "I used to have a family. A really big family actually, but I had to leave them a long time ago."

"Why?"

She sighed loudly. "Bring us some snacks from the kitchen and I'll tell you why."

I agreed quickly and grabbed some strawberries and whip cream from the refrigerator as Angela sat down hesitantly. She brought a tiny photograph album out of her bag just as I set my backpack down.

"I lived in a camp," Angela started off, "a camp that was more like a city than any summer home. I was born there and declared to die there but…" Angela opened her white photo album and showed me the first picture. It was of a woman in her late teens holding a small white bundle in her arms. She had the same straight brown hair Angela had and soft green eyes that matched perfectly. She was smiling at the camera while the calm sea rolled behind her.

"That was my mother." Angela said somewhat quietly. "She had me at an early age and couldn't support us both since my dad wasn't there to help us. So my mom went to that camp city place and raised me there." her voice broke slightly here. "She died from cancer when I was five. I-I tried living on best I could without her."

She flipped the page of the album and showed me her at seven years old. She was swimming in a lake with a thousand of other kids her age. One of them was a girl who was red haired and freckled, she had a cute smile as she tried to dunk Angel's head under the water. I strangely found myself smiling at that.

"That girl next to me," Angela pointed at Red Headed Freckles, "that was my friend Jolene. We had the best times together along with this boy right here." Angela directed her finger over to a boy behind Jolene. He had a wicked grin with long skater boy hair that stuck to his face when wet. "We always called him Slicker." I gave a tiny giggle at the funny name. "But I can't remember his real name. Sad that I let myself forget."

Insert frown here.

Angela turned the pages again and let me skim through pictures and pictures of her and her friends. Angela and Jolene at the beach, Sticky and Angela sitting in a theater like place, Jolene and Sticky climbing a rock wall that had some lava looking stuff pouring down it, and finally all three of them sitting down at a table along with a whole bunch of other kids that couldn't possible fit in such a small space. All of them in that picture had a goblet raised high along with a birthday cake placed in front of Angela. She herself was blushing crisom and trying not to cry tears of joy.

I smiled at seeing her so happy. "How long ago was this?" I asked.

Angela whistled slowly. "Ages. Ages and ages ago. Too long from me to remember clearly."

In other words, about four years because she looked about ten in the photo.

"So what happened?" I asked carefully. "You looked so happy at that camp, why did you have to leave?"

Angela glanced down at her lap and painted a grim look on her face. She was quiet for a moment as she decided what to tell me. I waited patiently as I could without interrupting her train of thought.

"Jolene went missing." She said quickly. "Nobody knew where she had gone too, and everybody was aniuxus to find her. So I went out on my own to search for her. I left Sticky and everyone else behind in order to, and I kept on getting the feeling that she was gone forever. So I gave up, couldn't bear the thought of ever coming back to camp and seeing everyone else in so long, so soon enough, my dad offered me this job as a messenger. Simple as that."

Simple? How? if a friend of mine went missing, then I would go looking all over the world for her. I wouldn't give up at all. Why would Angela give up just because of a feeling? She didn't seem like the one to give up.

"But enough of me!" Angela alarmed me with a somewhat higher octave voice. She threw her hand into the air the way I had seen girls on the telly do and took some strawberries dipped in whipped cream. She tasted it before talking again. "What about you Selene? What's the 411 with you?"

A cocked my head a little. This time it was me acting like a dog. "411? Is that supposed to stand for something?"

She laughed and shrugged at the same time. "No idea really. It's just what people say in America to ask like what's going on and how you are."

"Oh." I felt stupid after that. I racked my brain to figure out what to tell her. "Um…. I have really bad dyslexia and ADHD. Does that count?"

"Oh my gods!" Angela threw her hair back and gulped down her strawberry. "Me too! It's the worst isn't it?"

I nodded excitedly, "yeah. The women at the orphanage that I lived at, they kept on trying and trying to erase all of that and pretend that I was someone normal, but no. I can't be someone that isn't real."

Angela nodded proudly. She held up a half eaten strawberry and motioned me to hold up one too. "You said it right there." we bumped our strawberries together and ate them gracefully. It felt good.

"So what else is up?" Angela wondered. "How's the love life?" I noticed that she wiggled her eyebrows at this.

"Dead." I said flatly. "No guy would ever love me."

"Oh and why is that?"

I shrugged and went for another strawberry. "No guy is good enough to take. They're all fools."

Angela chuckled. She grinned as she dipped another strawberry in whip cream. "You sound like my friend Artemis. She thinks that all men are wastes of human life. Would like it better if it was an all women world."

My hand stopped halfway toward my mouth. "All women world? I was already living it! All girls orphanage…" I shook my head slowly, "nothing like too many cat fights, girls crying for love, and the heads of dolls flying everywhere. Total disaster if you ask me."

Angela chuckled as she pushed her hair behind her ear. "Well yeah, depends on what kind of girls you talk about."

"There are girl kinds in the world?"

My question sent her tongue to be twisted up. "Well... no, not really but um… see, it's just that…"

I couldn't help smirking.

"Hey look at the time!" Angela held out a wristwatch that I had never noticed before. Weird how the numbers on it weren't the regular ones that I had always seen. They were numbers that didn't mix up or move around. I think that they were in a different language or something like that. "I think it's time that we went to bed. Want to wake up for the U.S.A tomorrow good and happy right?"

I sighed. "Right."

Angela hopped of her chair and headed into a bathroom by where the beds where. Few seconds later she came out wearing soft and cozy looking pajamas that were much better than the clothes I was going to sleep in (I didn't have time to pack my sleeping clothes into my bag). I was so darn jealous.

Angela caught me staring. "You want pajamas too don't you Selene?"

I nodded quietly; shy like the idiot I was.

Turns out, I was wrong. Angela had a whole other pajama that I could have and wear to sleep. That and also I had a new toothbrush and toothpaste, hair brush, fuzzy slippers that made my feet say "ahhhhhh" and a really relaxing shower. All of that right before I went to bed. It made me think of Angela as my new Elise.

"All ready to sleep?" she asked.

"All ready." I sneaked the covers over my nose and lay my head on the soft pillow. Mmmmm….

Angela turned the lights of and walked over to her own bed. She gave one last glance at me in the dark and smiled hopefully. I wondered if she knew that I could see her without a trouble. (I can see in the dark. No questions asked please. It's just one of the Olympian gifts I have.)

"Night." Angela said.

"Night." I echoed.

"Sweet dreams."

"You too."

I heard her stir and move in a comforting position as I waited for the soft rhythm of sleep to come. One sheep. Two sheep. Three sheep… ah forget it. Just sleep…

_There was a teenager. He was standing over me as I slept. His hair was gold blond with some strands so bright; it was a miracle that Angela didn't wake up from the light. I twisted and turned in my sleep as the teenager held up something to his face. _

_It was the silvery, golden necklace that Angela had delivered to me. _

_The teenager unclipped the clasp and threw the chain over my neck. The pendant that had been a complete circle in the day was now a crescent moon in the night. It glowed silver in the moonlight and became gold whenever the light from the teenagers hair shined on it. He clipped the necklace around my neck and said words in a language that I now understand as Ancient Greek: "Be careful my young Helia. Just because you call yourself Selene doesn't mean that I'll forget you. As nether will your mother." _

_He touched my forehead and was gone. Like grains of sands he just blew away. _

I bolted awake and ran my arm next to me, seeing if I could hold onto the teenager. But no, it was just a dream. I think.

"Selene?" Angela stirred in her bed. Her voice was raspy from the deep sleeping. "Are you okay? Did something happen?"

I shook my head then remembered that she couldn't see me in the dark. "No, everything's fine Angela. I'm just... uh… I'm just wondering if I'm an illegal immigrant or something like that." (Thank you ADHD for that stupid thought!)

Angela smiled in the darkness then stirred again in her bed. She laid flat with her pillow under her head as she said, "go back to sleep Sel. We'll talk in the morning okay?"

"Okay." I laid back down on my bed and wrapped the covers on my head, easing my breath with slow gasps. Soon enough in the comfort of my own cocoon, I felt around my neck for something.

It was the crescent moon necklace.

And it was around my neck.


	5. Exotice Birds and Yellow Swirls

The next day I woke up with my mouth and eyes dry from the freaky night. I couldn't tell if what happened was just a dream or something real, truth is told, I was totally scared about it. No wonder my eyes were so dry and my pillow all wet.

"Have a good rest?" Angela asked. She was just barely getting out of bed and rubbing her eyes.

I lied without hesitating. Elise had asked that question so many times back at the orphanage that I was just used to always saying the same thing. "Yes it felt good sleeping. What about you?"

"Mine was fine too. Any nightmares?"

It was like this girl could read my mind… "I don't think so, I can't ever tell if I dreamt or not."_ Yeah Selene. Go ahead and stretch the rubber band of truth… Right until it breaks and smacks you in the face. _

"That's not bad I guess." Angela began making her bed and heading toward the john to take her morning shower. "Be back in a few minutes Selene. Don't do anything naughty."

I rolled my eyes. _Like I would want to._

Once the door to the bathroom closed and I could hear the running water, I snatched my backpack of one of the chairs and rummaged around for those packages Angela had delivered me yesterday. I had thought during the night that maybe whoever that teenage man had been, the answer could be in the unopened letter I got. If only I could just read it with this stupid dyslexia.

I pulled out the black mp3 first and set it beside me, figuring that I would see if it had any music later. I pulled out the white envelope from Angela's father and didn't bother to look at the front. I just ripped open the envelope and unfolded the paper to see what was on it. But as soon as my eyes laid on it, I wanted to punch a wall at what I saw.

Words. Not English words though, Russian words. Maybe even Greek. I picked up the mp3 again and saw the same language of words written on its side. That made me angrier.

I couldn't read it. None of it. It was hopeless. I couldn't see what the sender had wanted to say, and then I would never know who they were. Dammit it was hopeless! I wouldn't know then who had written me this, who had given me such a letter and also an mp3 that was way beyond my value. I hated it. _Screw my life! _

The bathroom door opened and out came Angela freshly dressed with water on her back from her hair. I immediately burst into tears from the reminder that the letter was from her father and that she was in my same situation: no hope of finding someone. It just got me wanting to die right on the spot.

"Hey hey," Angela came dashing over with her arms opened wide, "its okay. Don't cry, we'll be okay. This new life isn't going to be so bad; we'll get a new family and plenty of friends. Isn't that what we've all been asking for?"

I sniffled and chocked out through my throat, "but th-the delivery, the l-letter… I c-can't read it."

"Hey well just because you're dyslexic doesn't mean that a few-" Angela picked up the envelope and saw the weird letters scribbled on the front. Her eyes went buggy on me. "-thing's will put you down."

I wiped away the water on my face with my pajama sleeve and sniffled quietly. "b-but then I w-won't know who it's from! I'll n-never know!"

Angela hugged me tighter and let me cry on her shoulder. She gently stroked my hair with her hands and kept on "shhh"-ing me and saying its okay, that someday I'll find what the letter says. 'Til then I'll just have to save it and see what happens.

I wanted to burst out screaming at her from being so _close_. So dam _close_, to just finding out who my father or grandfather is. But then I remembered who was here holding me and comforting the wasting tears: Angela. She was my family now; I couldn't keep on wishing that I could've had someone else back in London. I had to wipe these tears away myself and suck it up. But if only growing up wasn't so hard…

Long minutes passed by like spring winds. Angela let go of me when my sniffling had ceased and I had no more tears left. "Feeling better?" she whispered.

I nodded. Not meeting her eyes.

Angela stood up and held her hand out. I took it reluctantly without seeing the softness in her expression. "c'mon," she walked over the window, "look at where we are." I got the honor of opening the small screen and seeing all of the fluffy marshmallow clouds.

"What's there to see other than clouds?" I asked. My voice was horse and raspy. It was always like that after I would cry.

Angela hugged me from behind and put her chin on my shoulder, I could feel the rhythm of her heartbeat. "Look harder." She whispered slowly.

I rubbed my eyes again and tried to see beyond the clouds. There was only something yellow and green, an exotic bird maybe? Wait, no. it was no bird.

It was a torch with yellow swirls on top. Then a hand holding the torch. Then an whole arm. And a body. With a head. Then a head with a spiked crown. And also… oh my god….

It was Lady Liberty.

I was finally in America.


	6. Angela Get Away From There!

ANGELA'S POINT OF VEIW

She's so small, so young, and so… so vulnerable.

I didn't know if I was really up for taking her to Camp and coming along with her. What if monsters came after us? It's been so long since I've ever fought in a real battle… I'm out of shape, no condition to be protecting a little girl against the dangers of the demi-god world. How could I even have let myself be with this girl for so long? It didn't feel right at all.

I walked along the airport and saw the bright green exit sign. "Over here Selene," I motioned my head toward it.

She followed me without hesitating or stopping one second. I could sense her distracted mind as she hid her Mp3 earphone wires under her hair and through her shirt. The song she was playing was pretty loud and I could hear her humming along to the beat.

"_I can feel this strange life _

_Leading to a great life _

_Where everything begins_

_Where everything makes sense._

_Somebody take this fake life, _

_Save me from this plain life._

_So everything begins, _

_So everything makes sense, _

_And nothing ever ends…"_

My (fake) smile vanished like that (makes snapping noise)! How could I have promised Selene such a good life here in the States? With the monsters, horrible criminals, extra fat in cheeseburgers and chili dogs, I possibly couldn't have let her be so naïve… maybe I just carried away. Why couldn't I have stopped myself in time before she boarded that plane?

And really,

What. Made. Me. So. Careless?

Even when I visited Iraq during the war and got caught in so many fights… I wasn't at least thoughtless the whole time. I was just… excited probably. Maybe even mindless. all that type of stuff because I'm still growing up. Yeah that's probably why. I mean, we all make mistakes right? I hope…

"You might want to button up your jacket," I said once I noticed the beginning snowfall outside. "It's going to be chili alright."

Selene nodded as she flipped her hood over her reddish brown hair and pressed her bag closer to her side. I noticed her shaking fingers of nervousness and fear.

I sighed quietly. I remember when I was about her age and starting on my journey to find Jolene. Maybe she had the same feelings that I had gotten.

_"Angela stops, please." Slicky begged; he had grabbed at my wrist and pulled me back to be face to face with him. _

_I struggled against his grip and but I knew that he outnumbered me by strength. What any girl would do: I gave no mercy and jerked up my leg to kick him in the groin. He loosened his grip when the hurt came to his body and I tore away from his grasp quickly. The last thing I saw of him before running off was his red eyed face angry in pain. _

_I let my legs carry me away from him and not stop until I realized that my feet weren't even touching the ground. They were hovering above it about an inch as though I were flying, something that very little Hermes children can do. I guess I was one of the lucky chosen. _

"_Angela come back!" this time it was Chiron's voice calling me from the camp grounds. It was faint and desperate; I hadn't even realized that I had crossed the camp border. _

_My heart was beating fast, my pulse was racing against it, and my mind was wheeling harder than it ever had in my life. Every step I took was faster and harder, as if I already had a monster on my heels. Was I having adrenaline? Hermes kids couldn't get adrenaline endless they're high on sugar or something, so what was going on? Was it my emotions? My depression? How could I be feeling this excitment of fear and worry and energy all at once? Was I experiencing something no one had ever gone though? _

_The wind whipped at my face and I felt the blood surging all through me. I was already too far away from camp to know where I was, but I knew I was in the one and only place that I could imagine:_

_Freedom. _

"One more time Selene, please." I rolled over on the bed and looked at her upside down head beside me. She had her hair in two braids down her back and a fresh set of clothes I gave her. Her face was shy as I urged her on to sing me one more song. "Were in an apartment," I stated. "This thing is very sound proof." –ish. "I don't think anybody besides me and you will be able to hear anything."

"But…" Selene's eyed drafted to the white ceiling then back at me. Her mixed yellow and gray irises told me to encourage her a bit more.

"_Please _Selene. Your voice is really good and I love to hear you sing. Just one more song 'kay? One more song and I'll tell you a story after that." I flipped the hair out of my face and gave her those big blue eyes of mine. They worked like a charm on people…

When I was younger.

"A story?" Selene turned to be on her stomach with her elbows propping her upper body up. "What kind of story?"

"A good story." I said while tasting the strawberry milk of earlier. "One about… about the Greek Mythology." (Ugh I still hated saying mythology even though it's been so long.)

"What's Greek Mythology?"

Her words took me by surprise. "You've never heard about Greek mythology? Never? In your whole life?"

She shook her head slowly.

I gave her the owl eyes and open mouth chin down shocked expression. She had never heard about Greek mythology? Not even a slight mention of Hercules or King Minos? Seriously? Oh my gods I have a lot to teach this girl about. I sat up quickly and started off with A: Aphrodite and went all the way down to Z: Zeus. I told her about the mortals that had become heroes like Perseus and Theseus, the myths that explain creations in life like winter from Persephone and Hades, and I also even mentioned the monsters of Greek stories.

Now don't get me wrong I know what I'm doing. Telling Selene about Greek monsters won't put her in danger, she's still young enough that they own scent bother her. And for me, when I became Hermes Assistant Messenger he gave me the blessing of being protected by all monsters, so that I wouldn't run into trouble when making a delivery or anything. But one thing just bothered me as I rambled on about Hades's Palace in the Underworld: would this matter to Selene? Would she be smart enough to apply this all to her life in the Real World? And if she did, would she be able to remember it all enough to save her life?

What if she didn't?

That thought scared me the most.

Time wore on, I was in the middle of telling the story about Athena and Arachne when I noticed that it was already nightfall. I hadn't realized how fast sunlight was starting to be now that its winter. How much longer did we have until New Year's Eve anyway?

"Wait no Angela!" Selene whined, she was leaning against the top of the bed with a pillow pressed against her chest. she was laying her head on top of it with her braids over her shoulders. "you can't stop telling the story! What happened after Athena got mad? Did she punish Arachne?"

I hesitated and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "I'll tell you tomorrow Sel. we have to get all fed and ready for bed right now. The time had passed so fast between us two. Before long it'll be…" I checked my wrist watch. The long hand was pointing up. "Midnight." I murmured. Gods when you're the daughter of the Hermes you never realize how fast things are _really _going.

"Hey open up!" a loud bang came at the door. Like dogs our heads turned to it at once. "This is the police! We have a call about runaway kids in here! Hand them over now and nobody gets hurt!"

Oh shit…

"Angela what's going on?" Selene squeaked.

"shhh," I jumped of the bed as quietly as I could and reached for her school bag, dumping it out then stuffing what was needed inside. Money, clothes, food, water, just whatever I could get my hands on. My hands went to my pockets and touched my one and only weapon: a gold covered apple tree key chain that turns into a dagger when rubbed. I could give it to her now, let her figure out the transformation herself, and have her protect herself when she reached ten years old. But it was the last thing that I had from my mom, I couldn't think about giving it up.

"Open UP!" the banging at the door was louder, angrier. I kept myself from crying out of horror.

"What's going on?" Selene asked. She was shaking with fear herself. "What do they want Angela?"

"Get your shoes and sweater on baby," I hated ignoring her question. "Quickly!"

She obeyed without question from hearing the worry in my voice. She slipped in her sneakers and reached for the worn out but still in good shape parka. Her tiny little fingers fumbled with the buttons of it that I felt sorry for getting her so shaky.

"You have three seconds to open the door!" the police at the door shouted. "If not then we have no choice but to barge in. One!"

I slung the school bag over my shoulder and slipped on my shoes as quick as possible.

"Two!"

I reached for my jacket but had no time. Grabbing Selene by the waist and hauling her over my shoulder opposite from her bag, I stood next to the door with only one second of a wait.

"Whatever happens Selene," I said hastily while watching the tears in her eyes, "I love you like a little sister and always will. Don't you ever forget that no matter where you are or how down you're in life, I'll always be hoping for the best in you."

"Three!" the police knocked the door down with one slam and I heard a terrified scream escape Selene's mouth. Dust and cold winds entered the warm and I felt the chills run into my nose. Tears stung in my eyes as two policemen barged into the room pointing hand guns at the clouds of debris going around. I took that to advantage and glided past them, carrying Selene still as my feet ran faster and faster.

Snow was falling outside and ice was painting the floor, I willed myself to run faster, fast enough where I would be practically flying.

"Angela, Angela," Selene cried. She was sobbing hysterically at how scary this was.. "What's going on? I don't want to die. Angela, Angela, what's happening? Are we going to die?"

"shhh, no. of course not." I made it down the first two stories then onto the ground level. There I ran through the buildings of condos and out of the apartments ground. There were siren's blazing outside and flashes of blue and red lights that came closer and closer. I ran harder and fast, wishing that I had candy. Adrenaline could be a big help here right now…

"Angela put me down! Put me down!" Selene kicked and thrashed like a little toddler. I guess the fear was starting to panic her senses. "Put me down Angela! _Put me down_!"

"No Selene I can't!" I glided down the street and away from the thundering sirens. New Yorkers sneaked glances at me but they only avoided crashing into me. "I have to protect you Selene. I absolutely _have_ to. I promised myself." Rounding the block and finding myself in a new neighborhood, I went for the trashy and old abandoned building. I wasn't so sure about my chances for hiding in there.

Police cars wailed around me and they grew louder as reinforcements came and surrounded the whole block bit by bit. Cops asked passing people if they had seen me running by, otherwise known as "the brown haired runaway girl with a big backpack over her shoulder." They all nodded in my direction and I had enough panic to enter the abandoned building through the emergency back exit. There were flights of stairs in front of me and I took them, Selene still wailing and crying in my arms.

"Stop Sel, please." I begged. "Just be quiet."

Her fussing stopped but I had to ignore the sobs that still rang in my ears. She had my whole shoulder completely wet by now and I instantly regretted not bringing along my jacket.

A single flight of stairs came and went before the roaring of police cars became louder. This must've been already in front of this building! I climbed higher and faster but not with as much strength, my energy was starting to fade. _Oh man, oh man this is bad…_ how could have I brought Selene into this?

Voices passed me but I couldn't tell if it was my imagination or not. They just seemed faint and distant, nothing like the police sirens that blocked everything out. Ten more steps to the top, five… I was beginning to reach a heavy metal door. I knew from experience that it was the entrance to the building's roof.

I barged through it and was welcomed by the ultra whiteness from falling snow. The police alarms were louder out there, and I could feel the new panic they created: Selene and I where now on top a roof of a crappy apartment building with police men covering every street corner and block lane. They had surrounded us, and when one of them saw me standing over the edge with Selene still in my arms, my mind got the best of me.

Dropping the little nine year old girl on the concrete of the roof and away from the edge, I gazed at her sad eyes and shaking body. She was red eyed and sniffling on the ground with her school bag by her side, clutching it like she had to the pillow from earlier.

"Angela what are you doing?" she said in that tiny Bristish accent. "Why are you standing so close to the edge? Get away from there, Angela. Angela!"

I turned back to the roaring crowd of policemen five stories below and I closed my eyes. "I'm so sorry." My body grew so limp with cold and frost, that I let myself plunge into the deep air of a hundred feet below me.

The last thing I heard was the wind whistling in my ears before I reached the ground five stories below. The bitter chill ate at my face and I could already hear screams erupt everywhere, but there was something that I never forgot the whole time:

I was a Daughter of Hermes, the God who could give his children many powers and talents. _Including_ the gift of flight…


	7. Wake Up Ethan, Please

**Author's note:**** Well here it is! The new chapter I've been working on since **_**for-ev-er**_**. Hope you guys like it! And if not, then review it and tell me why!**

**P.S. This story takes place two years before the Lightning Thief, basically think of it as the characters background story before they went to Camp and met Percy. I do not own anything in this story besides Selene, Angela, and Justin. Also Bad Day rightfully belongs to Daniel Powter. **

SELENE'S POINT OF VEIW

She just… went.

She didn't jump, didn't fall, didn't push herself over. She just… let go of everything and went hurling towards the ground. I couldn't even believe that she had the courage to do that and… leave me.

_Why_ though? Why would she? Why would she leave me _now _after everything she promised?

I knew that I never should have listened to her words, never should have taken them in and believed in them for so long. What was I _thinking_ anyway? That Angela could be my new family and give me a new life here… yeah right. Tell me that again when I get approached by a ghost and fall in love at the same time. It just doesn't work out with me.

Snow kept on falling and drowning away the midnight moon, I couldn't even see the crowds' of people down below because it was so dark and white at the same time. I could still hear the sirens that blazed and the lights that flashed, everything turning into a mixture of red, white, and blue (wow, way to show the American Pride with just my first day here). Tears were streaming down my face and frost bite was already starting to kick in. Wind blew at me lightly and I thought that I could hear whispering, murmuring, something that reminded me of humans out here on the roof, but I couldn't see what it was. I didn't really even want to.

The crunching of footsteps took me by surprise and I turned away from the New York City skyscrapers to the cold roof of the abandoned apartment building. There was a boy standing a few yards away from me, his winter clothes torn and dirty. I couldn't see much of him under the flying whiteness, but I could make out one thing: he had his eyes locked on me, studying and observing my next moves and decisions. I wondered what he was doing out here in the middle of night watching me like a hawk.

We kept staring at each other for so long that I could completely memorize his face: light olive skin, daring brown eyes, bushy eyebrows with tiny scars painting all over the forehead and such. I guessed that he was eleven, maybe twelve. I wasn't so sure considering that I didn't want to take my eyes away from his. It was like a staring contest actually, seeing which one would breakaway first.

It was me who first blinked and saw through another screen of frames: he wasn't challenging me, he was _welcoming_ me. The frozen face that had once been a hardening stare was now a soft gaze that pitied me. It made me want to throw up and die on the spot.

"What do you want from me?" my voice was cracked and shaky, bit by bit it got smaller. "Take what you want and leave. I don't have much left anymore."

"What's your name?" he asked. His voice was slow, scared even. Like he was the explorer and I was the frightened animal. He wanted to draw me in closer, not scare me away.

"Selene," I said carelessly. I wondered if he noticed my British accent.

"You're like what? Eight, nine? And you're alone out here?"

"A few days away from ten mind you." My serenity was wearing thin now.

"Oh, sorry then." He put his hands out in surrender then went on above the noise from the dying sirens, "just figured you'd like to go inside the apartment since the cops could be up here any moment. Wouldn't want to get caught by them I bet"

True… but I didn't know if I could trust him. "What's your name?" I said. "Your _full_ name." I figured that I could blackmail him with an anonyms call to the police if he was a runaway or rebel. Lucky that Selene was only my middle name _ha_.

"Christopher Rodriguez." he said a bit quietly. (Thank the gods I had really good hearing.) "My friends and I… we live in the apartment just below us and I'd like to invite you in, give you a place for the rest of the night and help you with whatever."

"What makes you think I need help?"

He smiled apologetically. "You _are_ a street kid aren't you?"

Skittles he had me there. "Fine. Whatever then." I wiped away the frosted tears on my face and took a deep breath. I made sure to grab my school bag and fish out a pen from the front pocket; In case of emergency I figured it was the best weapon I had so far.

My steps followed Rodriguez's as he went through the big heavy metal door and into the building. I admit I hesitated before going inside, but with one last look at the flashing lights everywhere in the falling snow, I knew that it was my last chance of being undiscovered.

"Over here." Rodriguez led me down a hall that smelled suspiciously of cigarette smoke and unwashed socks. I struggled not to gag as he guided me deeper into the apartment and closer to the noise of people fumbling around. I gripped my bag tighter and tried not to let myself cry anymore. I had to be strong and witty; tears would only take that away.

"Don't mind my friends," Rodriguez said as we walked, I noticed that he was trying to keep the calm tension alive, "Ethan and Justin can just get a little paranoid. But my two other friends, Beckendorf and Lee, they're pretty cool. As long as you don't get in their way that is."

"Okay," my voice was a whisper, "will they be mad at you for letting me come and stay the night?"

He snorted. "Probably not. Just try not to get on their nerves and you'll be fine."

"Okay."

We walked in silence for a few more minutes until we came to a door no different from any other. "Welcome to my home Selene." Rodriguez twisted the knob leading into one of the apartments and stepped away to let me enter first.

I walked in cautiously and the scent of candles was the first thing that caught my attention. There were a few here and there inside the room, none lit because it was nighttime. I saw big black lumps of shadows on the ground, four in total. I realized that they were Rodriguez's friends, sleeping on the floor because there was no furniture in the apartment. I noticed that one of them snored like an old man, the smallest one next to him twitching and murmuring like a little toddler on night terrors. I wondered how bad of a nightmare he was having.

"You can just go into a corner and curl up," Rodriguez whispered. He hadn't taken of any of his winter clothes for the cold in here was barely any different from the one outside. "I would try my best not to wake up any of the others. It's been awhile since any of us have had a decent sleep."

I nodded, but then said okay because we were in darkness. I could see him, but he couldn't see me. One of the flaws that I usually forget whenever I'm with people.

I stepped quietly through the apartment, heading toward the farthest corner in the room. I passed the young boy who was having a nightmare, his body shaking like he was cold. Rodriguez came up to him and took off his own jacket, frowning as he laid it on the boy's body. I didn't keep on frowning when the little boy stopped shivering.

I made it to the corner and settled down, leaning against the walls with dead beat tiredness. My bag sat in my lap, its weight giving me comfort. I didn't feel like rummaging through it though, I would save that for later. My hands went into my pockets and out with my mp3. I set the earphones into my ears and pushed play, just wanting to hear music that would guide me away…

_Where is the moment we needed the most?  
You kick up the leaves and the magic is lost.  
They tell me your blue skies fade to gray.  
They tell me your passions gone away.  
And I don't need no carryin' on…_

_You stand in the line just to hit a new low.  
You're faking a smile with the coffee you go.  
You tell me your life's been way off line.  
You're falling to pieces every time.  
And I don't need no carryin' on…_

Because you had a bad day,  
you're taking one down.  
You sing a sad song just to turn it around.  
You say you don't know,  
you tell me don't lie,  
you work at a smile and you go for a ride.  
You had a bad day.  
The cameras don't lie,  
you're coming back down and you really don't mind.  
You had a bad day.  
You had a bad day.  
  
Tears formed in my eyes as I tried to sleep, I didn't bother to brush them away. I sniffled quietly and brought my knees up to my chest, hugging them for comfort. Why did Angela leave me? Why did she just go of that building without thinking about me? Did I just not matter to her? Was I not good enough to be living with her? But those last words she told me in our apartment, those things she said before the police came…

"_Whatever happens Selene, I love you like a little sister and always will. Don't you ever forget that no matter where you are or how down you're in life, I'll always be hoping for the best in you."_

Had she really meant that?

Honestly it doesn't feel like she did.

"Ethan, wake up! Wake up Ethan! Please! _Wake up_!"

It was still about four in the morning, not yet late enough to wake up. There was a fifteen year old boy in the middle of the apartment shaking awake a ten year old one. The fifteen year old had blond hair and blue eyes, a body of all bones no fat. The ten year old, Ethan his name obviously, had slick black hair and so many bruises on his skin that I couldn't even tell what color he was supposed to be. I curled myself tighter in a ball and figured that if I made myself small enough, then I wouldn't be seen or noticed by the fifteen year old.

"C'mon Ethan! Wake up! Don't play this kind've game with me! _Wake up_!" the fifteen year old set Ethan down on the ground and watched as he twitched and shivered, his mouth quivering slightly.

"Fire… everywhere… everyone… no survivors." Ethan squirmed and shivered on the ground, his body moving into a tight ball. I was determined not to freak out.

"C'mon Eth, wake up. It's just a nightmare, snap out of it dude!" fifteen year old gently smacked the boy on his cheek, trying to get his eyes opened. "Please Ethan. _Wake. Up_."

"What's going on Justin?" Rodriguez stood up from his sleeping spot and looked at his friend in the darkness. "What's all the yelling for?"

"Its Ethan," Justin said quickly, "he's having another nightmare and I can't seem to wake him up this time."

Rodriguez's eyes widen as he looked around. "Hold on a sec. let me light a candle so that we can see." He picked up something from the floor and grabbed one of the candles laying around. Snapping on the lighter in his hand, he put the flame to the candle's wick and started a small light.

"Flames everywhere… her screaming… Th-the little wolf puppy…he-he's howling…" Ethan rolled his head to the side and covered his ears with his hands. His eyes were squeezed shut so tight that I felt my own hands shaking. What was he seeing in his nightmare? What was it about? Who was the 'her' that was screaming?

"Ethan, wake up man," Rodriguez shook his shoulder and raised his voice, the sound echoing throughout the apartment. "You gotta get it together. Just open your eyes dude, Ethan!"

The little boy started crying obliviously. He lay on his side curling tighter and tighter into a ball.

"Justin, Wake up Lee." Rodriguez didn't take his gaze of off Ethan, "and Beckendorf too. Now."

Justin shakily went about the room waking up two other boys; One African American with huge catcher's mitts hands and the other like a younger version of Justin. They were both uncomplaining to wake up, seeing how urgent and distressed Justin's voice was anyway. They ran to his side and looked over Ethan, each not saying a word as they listened to the little boy's murmurings.

"Gotta help her… wait, its cracking! She can't' make it out! Her-her wolf, he's slipping… they're gonna die!" Ethan shook harder and fiercer, his cheeks becoming soaked with tears. "They… they can't help her. She's on her own… the wolf… oh my gods... he's falling! _No_!" Ethan blurred out tears harder than I ever could have imagined. He started hitting and kicking at nothing, Justin and Rodriguez tried holding him down, but that boy was going into seizure mode or something.

"Wake up dude!" the smaller and younger Justin said. He smacked Ethan straight across the face.

It made no difference.

Ethan was still having some sort of spasm.

That's when I started freaking out. This little boy right here, probably no older than I, was shivering and shaking like he was infested by demons and needed an exorcism. I backed up against the wall as best I could and tried to control my shaking hands. What was going on? Why couldn't he wake up? Was this even real? Am I the one having a nightmare?

"We have to splash water on his face; bite his neck, do _some_thing wake him up." Mini Justin said.

"Lee, I don't think that that'll work." Rodriguez wiped away some of Ethan's tears. "We've tried everything through all of the previous nights. Nothing will work."

"But something _has_ to work. We can't just leave him having night terrors forever." Lee, who I saw as mini Justin, shook the blond hair out his face and looked around vividly for an answer. His gaze met all of the guys but they didn't return the look. That's when he spotted me.

"_You_," he said. His voice was panicked and desperate. "Whoever you are, can you find a way to wake him up?"

I shook my head at rapidly but then saw the burning candle nearby; my mind had a very awful idea. "y-you could try b-burning his fingers…"

"Sick idea but it might work." The African American boy assumed. He took the candle next to Rodriguez while Lee grabbed Ethan's hand and moved it to the boy's face.

Gently and hesitantly, African American boy set the candle below Ethan's hand and let the flame dance on his skin. There was silence for a moment as Ethan's murmuring stopped and he quit shaking. It was seconds before I found myself holding my breath to see what was going to happen.

"Nothing's happening." Lee whispered.

I pursed my lips together as my hands clutched my necklace. _Please let him wake up. Please let Ethan wake up. Please… _

"Wait, wait, wait, his eyes are fluttering. Beckendorf take the flame away." The African American slowly set the burning candle aside as Lee felt for Ethan's heartbeat.

"Wake up Ethan," Rodriguez whispered. He ruffled the small boy's hair and glanced at me, his eyes watery. "Bedtime's over Eth. You can wake up now."

Little Ethan's eyes fluttered open and closed before he sat up and yawned. "Where am I? What's going on? Chris, where are you?"

"I'm right here buddy." Rodriguez patted his shoulder and gave a deep sigh, his own eyes half closed with exhaustion. "Want to eat?"

"Yeah I'm starving!" Ethan stood up a little too quickly and almost fell back against Beckendorf's body.

"Whoa there man… take it easy. You were just having another nightmare a few seconds ago." Beckendorf's voice was deep and low, I could smell the scent of coffee beans from his breath. "try and take it easy next time 'kay? No cold pizza before going to sleep from now on."

Ethan didn't argue. He nodded quietly and turned to face Rodriguez, who was Chris to them. But before he could move and face the older boy, Ethan's eyes landed on me.

"You!" he shouted. "You're the girl from my dream! You're the one who was in the fire!"


	8. Both Chris and Angela

"Wh-what?" I gasped. "No, no. I-I can't be the girl you saw in your dream. You don't even know me!"

"Neither do we," Justin rasped. He marched up to me and cornered my little body up against the wall. I cringed away from him as farthest as I could. "Who are you and why are you in our apartment?"

"I-I" my palms were shaking and sweating, I opened my mouth to speak but nothing could come out anymore. Justin may have been skinny and tall, but he could definitely kill me with just a few switches of a blade.

"Justin, she's with me," Chris/Rodriguez said. Everybody in the room turned their heads toward him. He seemed a little less nervous now with everybody watching him. "She was all alone out on the roof. You know that I couldn't have just left her out there with no place to go. Cut it some slack."

Justin turned back to me with eyes of caution. Unmistakably they told me to watch myself. "What's the life status with you?"

"R-r-runaway orphan." I chocked. "Street kid."

"What were you doing up on the roof?"

"Crying." It wasn't a lie.

"Because?"

"Um… reasons beyond your understanding." The little voice inside my head called me a smartass.

Justin exhaled loudly and glared at Chris, his face all serious looking. "You brought her here, give her whatever you promised, and then get her the hell out."

Ouch.

"Okay." Chris nodded and motioned me to follow him into the hall and away from the other guys. I did so obediently without meeting anybody elses' eyes. Especially Justin's and Ethan's.

"Sorry about that." Chris led me into a plain room that had boxes and boxes of who knows what stacked inside. I could see tops of glass jars and broken silverware from one. "Justin's just paranoid cause of Ethan's night terrors." Chris said absently.

I adjusted my school bag while saying quietly, "is that why you guys haven't had a decent sleep in so long; Because Ethan's been keeping you all up?"

Chris nodded again and took something out from one of the boxes. It was blue plastic water bottle with duct tape on the side. "Figured you didn't have one of these," he threw it to me and I caught it gracefully. "Every runaway has to have some source of water. Whether it's good or not."

"Splendid, thanks." I bagged the bottle and just as Chris raised an eyebrow at me. "What?" I asked. "Is there a spider in my hair?"

He amused a smile then leaned against one of the room's walls, his legs crossed at the ankles. "Nothing Selene. Just your accent. It... Interests me."

I shrugged. "How? Don't American people always try to impersonate us Britain's?"

Chris chuckled lightly while looking at something else in one of the boxes. It was a knife. He took it out gingerly and held it up to his face, examining and observing the bronze blade. "What does this look like to you?" he asked carefully.

I thought that he was playing with me. Of course I could see it. "It's a switchblade."

"Okay." Chris seemed surprised but he put that face expression away. "What does it look -" he pressed some sort of button on the knife and it folded three times into a watch. "-like now?"

Fancy toys Americans have.

"A wristwatch."

"So you can actually see it?" he asked puzzled.

"Of course I can see it! It's a damn watch and switch blade!"

"Whoa…." He gazed at me with wide eyes that got me feeling uncomfortable.

I shifted my weight and shrugged my shoulders. "Why is that so 'whoa'?"

"Because," he unclipped the watch and took my wrist, securing the mini clock onto me. "Not very many people _can_ see it."

I raised him an eyebrow while he let go of my arm. "So I'm like what, a mutant or something?"

He scoffed then put his hands in his pockets again, that easy grin coming back. "Hell no. you're not a freak or an insane person or anything. You're just… special."

"Special?"

"yeah special. Meaning that you're one of kind and an exclusive being or something like that. But nothing bad no, of course not. Just remember that I can see it too."

I nodded and found myself fidgety and unstable. My fingers kept on playing with my jacket and I couldn't stay still. This ADHD was acting up.

Chris seemed to notice. He frowned when I kept on glancing at the door. "Go." He said solemnly. "You can leave. Just watch out for street traffickers and drugged out police men."

I said my thank you and good bye, and headed out the door then out of the whole condo. I felt awkward the whole time as I walked out of the building and onto the streets, because the last thing that Chris said to me got me uneasy: "be glad that you're not ten yet Selene. You should see it as a blessing actually."

That was pretty much what Angela had told me on the first day that I met her…


	9. Rose Smelling Silena

Ever get so crept out that you can't think straight?

Or so scared of the world that you just don't want to go on living or anymore?

Or even that you get so tired and unmotivated that you just want to give up right there, right then?

That's what I felt like when I dumpster dived for my evening meal. The thing was smelly, gross, and totally disgusting that I didn't want to eat it. I forced myself to though, the food I got out of there was probably the last thing I was going to eat before sunrise twelve hours later. It just didn't make sense though how people would throw away such a perfectly good meal. (Not that I'm complaining though. The more you people throw out the more there is for me).

The sunset was casting in from behind the skyscrapers and created a pink lipstick glow among the sky. Marigold orange shades mixed into the sky and painted itself across the air, as if the colors of the newest ice cream flavor: sunset sky sherbet. I licked my lips at just thinking about that.

Without realizing it though, that sunset sky sherbet turned into bright night swirl. Lights were on everywhere from everything and it all felt so different from London. Back there things wouldn't be so noisy, so deafening, so… so straight up loud.

But it was nothing compared to how cold I was. Remember when I said how back in London the night sucked blood? Well now here in New York the night not only sucked blood, but it left you to die in withers with no warmth of any kind. Yeah that's how miserable I was.

You wouldn't believe my relief though when the sunrise lights came into the atmosphere. It made me want to climb up onto one of the building roofs just to touch those golden rays of light. And to feel that heat spread throughout my whole body… nothing could compare to that. **(Well back then it couldn't.)**

I walked along the jammed streets of New York City Times Square and caught the whiff of something sweet and delicious: chocolate. There was a small chocolate shop not too far ahead... Maybe I could just take a look and pickpocket a few goodies…

"Yeah, just a few sweets…" I murmured to myself.

I strode quickly through the clumps of people and opened the door to the chocolate shop. A wave of sweet vanilla and chocolate smells washed over me and I sniffed it all in, glad for a cover up of my horrible smelling body. There were shelves and shelves of little chocolate candies on the walls, some on bread, others on vanilla candies, and some even of dipped strawberries. There was everything from cookies to cakes to candies to even fruits! Oh my god I think that I had even died and gone to Selene heaven…

"How may I help you ma'am?" the employee looked barely a year older than me, maybe twelve or eleven. She had soft locks of blond hair and beautiful blue eyes that could make anyone jealous. Even in the brown apron she wore and raggedy outfit she didn't look bad. She made it look good actually.

And that smell… underneath all of the chocolate scent I could smell something sweet and pleasant, something I had only smelled in a garden before.

"Roses," I realized. I just didn't notice that I had said it our loud. The girl looked at me with eyebrows bunched together. "Excuse me?" she asked. She pointed out her obvious name tag. "My name's Silena. Not Rose."

I looked down and shook my head at myself, the grip on my bag a little tight. "Right. Um, sorry, pardon me. I'm dyslexic so I can't exactly read…"

Silena's eyes brightened and she gave a weird smile, "oh my god I'm dyslexic too! Do you have ADHD as well?"

I nodded my head, amazed at how good of a guesser this girl was. "Do you?"

"Yes!" she gave a small jump and was about to grab my hand when she noticed how dirty I was. I couldn't blame her for not wanting to touch my skin after sleeping on the streets. "Oh my god." Silena stood still for a moment then motioned me on the counter and to the back of the store, where stored ingredients for the shop were. "You're homeless aren't you?" she whispered even though we were completely alone.

I didn't really hide it. This girl could obviously see the truth. "Yes." I said a little quietly.

This Silena girl frowned pityingly and I swear, I could see her eyes tear up from seeing me. She could've kicked me out of the store after knowing that I could be capable of stealing, but I knew that this girl was softer. I could just _sense _it in myself.

"Do you want a shower?" Silena asked.

I nodded rapidly. "Oh please, that would be wonderful! I beg of you, please let me have one."

She gave a quick smile at my accent but then it vanished as she led me over to the flight of stairs hidden from an over towering storage shelf. Her hand still refused to grip mine but as she guided me into her home, the floor right above her family's chocolate shop, I felt a little better yet disappointed because I didn't get any sweets. There was a small room that was Silena's own bathroom that she let me use to shower, and must I say, I loved it. I tried not to make a mess though, because everything, and I mean everything, was right in its place and nothing was out of order. I began to wonder if this girl was a neat freak.

I disappointedly got out of the shower and onto the tile floor, drying myself with a rose scented towel. This girl really does wear a lot of perfume doesn't she? Everything was scented roses and I was surprised that her own toilet wasn't like everything else. I was sad though that my dirtiness was going to mess everything up.

Just as I was about to put on my fowl clothes full of rubbish and everything, I knock came at the door.

"It's me." Silena said. "I thought you might like these to wear." The door opened slowly and cautiously, a small hand poked through the crack and reached out with a bundle of folded clothes. I took it gingerly, afraid of making a wrong move, and Silena closed the door quickly. The gust of fresh that had entered was gone and I was left in a steamy bathroom with shame of being so dirty.

Wrapped in a towel I carefully unfolded the clothes and looked them over, my eyes stinging up in tears. The pants were jeans, light blue with pink sequins woven into the thighs ever so perfectly and beautifully. The shirt was a white blouse with little blue jewels woven into the sleeves as well as the hem. I grasped them tightly and appreciated how clean and neat they were; nothing as pretty or cute from when I was even in the orphanage. I breathed in slowly and for the thousanth time in such a short time, I started crying.

What have I done? What have I done? What have I done?

I had run away from a place that wasn't worth staying yet I was in a place that I never could find my dignity in. I had let Angela abandon me as well as my own parents when I just three years old. Could I really be that unlucky and cursed that I couldn't even feel at home just once?

I held in a wail and leaned down against the bathroom sneak, not realizing that I had dropped the clean clothes. My shoulders were shaking and I could feel the tears running down my eyes, parading down my face with unleashed freedom.

I didn't bother to wipe them away until my body had stopped shaking and I could regain my conscious. By then long minutes had ticked by, making Silena more and more worried about me.

"You okay in there?" she knocked softly, her voice almost just as smooth. "You need help with anything?"

"n-no thank you." I stammered. "I'm fine." I sucked up my misery and put on the clothes, slipping into them perfectly without thinking about my own dirty clothes lying in a pile in the corner. I quickly towel dried my hair as best I could and took one last deep breath. One last deep breath before walking out of the bathroom and toward Silena sitting on her dining table.

"'Ello," I said. "My name's Selene by the way, sorry I had forgotten to introduce myself." I played it cool and held my hand out, this time Silena actually willing to touch me.

Her smile lit up the holes in my heart as she said, "you look really pretty Selene. I'm glad that I could get you cleaned up. You want something to eat?"

As if on cue my stomach rumbled and growled, telling Silena a yes before my mouth could.

She gracefully got out of her seat and went to her fridge in the corner of the room, looking through it before settling for some lasagna. She warmed it up in the oven and made small talk with me while we waited for the meal.

"How old are you Selene?" she asked.

"Im…" I counted the times on my fingers, "four days away from turning ten. You?"

"I'm turning twelve in February." She flipped her blond hair back, her blue eyes full of sweetness, "February fourteenth to be exact."

"Valentines Day?"

She nodded excitedly and told me about how every year her father would take her to get a six shop drop of full caffeine mocha chocolate from the nearest Starbucks. She mentioned how she wasn't really allowed to have many sweets because she had to stay healthy as possible as well as be careful with sugar since she has ADHD. She said something about it being ironic that her father owns a chocolate shop when it's chocolate that she's aloud to have the least. "Pretty unfair if she ask me." She had said.

I gazed at her with curiousity then said out of nowhere, "do you have a mum?"

Her smile faded like that and she wouldn't look at me the same way. Her eyes were clouded in thought now. "I don't know. My father says that she'll come for me one day, claim me as hers and teach me what it really is to be her daughter but…" Silena shrugged; the fake nonchalant in her voice only visible by a fraction. "I don't know. Sometimes it just feels like she won't ever come. No matter how hard I try."

I felt those empty holes in my heart open up slightly. Silena was in my place. Almost. "Do you think that you're dad would ever leave you?"

She looked shrill and disappointed. Afraid of the truth really, if I could read her blank eyes. "I don't know really. He keeps on sending me to schools all across New York that I just know I won't fit into. And he keeps on talking about this camp..." her voice trailed off. I was worried that if she said more than she would start crying.

"It's okay." I was lying. I honestly didn't know whether or not Silena would make it through with her dad. I just felt like I needed to say something comforting. "He'll always love you. Even if he expresses it in unfamiliar ways…"

She sniffled and tucked her bangs behind her ear, looking out the window before into my eyes again. "Thanks Selene. Would you mind if I asked what happened to your parents?"

I sighed and was about to say that I couldn't talk about it, the memory was too sharp and painful, but before I could the oven beeped and signaled that the lasagna was ready.

Silena jumped out of her chair and went toward the oven, opening it and sniffing the aroma before talking again. "Mmm… it smells good don't it?"

I smiled and nodded, fake as a tiny plastic Barbie doll.

Who ever thought that lasagna could save me from the reminiscence of such agonizing memories?

Whatever anyway though. That was the first night I spent with Silena. Silena Beauregard that is. She was such a sweet girl when she was eleven. I wonder what could have caused her to die such a horrible death…


	10. Remember Rachel

I left at sunrise the next day. I couldn't take the chance of Silena turning me into those Social Services or whatever their called here in America. She was a really sweet and nice girl yes, but when you're me, sometimes you just don't want to take the risks. And not to mention how I needed to get lost before her father woke up and found me in his house. Talk about trespassinssg eh?

I gazed around room once more and my eyes locked on it neatness. Just like her bathroom, Silena had put and made sure that everything was in order and that there were no things out of place. The dresser and night stand were both of matching polished white and the walls in every side were of hand painted red flowers. They all swirled around each other and connected in some way, whether it was at the stems, leaves, and petals. The flowers were always touching each other.

Just like miserable situations and I.

I set my gaze on the dresser where a box full of jewelry sat. Silena had showed me it and told me that she got all new necklaces and bracelets and everything every week because her dad had always liked to spoil her with girl stuff. She said that she never really wore all of what her father gave her, so taking a handful or so of jewelry wouldn't maybe hurt…

I stuffed half of the box's accessories down deep in my bag but kept the silver and gold bracelet around my wrist. It was of beaded flowers carefully crafted into a circle so that it could easily be kept as a bracelet. The flowers on it would remind me of Rose Smelling Silena, of how sweet and beautifully amazing she was.

No matter how hard she was judged…

I walked out of the chocolate shop and walked east, back in the direction of Chris's apartment and home. Even this early people were up and everywhere, none of them noticing me or paying any attention. They probably thought that I was going to some library or whatever.

I pulled my sleeve down to look at my watch (the sleeve is of a black sweater that Silena gave me: "Black's not really my color so…") and I saw that it was only six AM. Dang I had lots of time. I could always set up a stand to sell that jewelry and least get some crash. I grinned proudly. Good thing Silena had taught me about U.S money and their values…

Three Hours Later…

"Ten dollars." I said to lady who asked how much the teddy bear ring was.

She gladly paid me and walked away, going on with her business and new bought merchandise.

I stuffed the bills in my pockets and displayed all of left over rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. I still had enough to make and do for an hour or so more. I was in Times Square and it was about nine in the morning, yet I was still getting plenty enough money to get myself a real meal.

A red headed girl with dancing freckles across her face and hands walked up to me and looked over all of the jewelry I had. She wore splattered paint ripped jeans and a raggedy sweat shirt. Her hair wasn't combined and the ends stuck up in every direction, spiking out like thistles in a plant. I wondered how this girl could even be interested in jewelry if she looked more of an artistic, crazy, type.

"How much for this?" she held up the black leather string with a mood sun pedant attached to it.

"Ten dollars." My accent made me pronounce the word dollars like 'doll-uh-s'.

"I'll take it." The girl pulled out a twenty from her pocket and I quickly give her the change of a ten. I was just handing her the bill when a man in a gray business suit came up behind her and grabbed her shoulders suddenly.  
"Rachel there you are!" his voice reminded me a father who never wanted to be with his children. "I've been looking all over for you. Why did you wander off on your own?"

"I was just exploring daddy." She mumbled. More to herself than him I might add.

I gave her the money and she took it gingerly, clipping on the necklace afterwards. Her father had a disguised look on his face when he saw it but he made no comment about it.

"We have to go. You're mother's waiting in the limo and she's already getting impatient." The man grabbed his daughter by the hand and pulled her away, leaving the girl to look at me with a sad face.

I watched as they left horridly then looked back down at my table of accessories. There was a folded up piece of paper on it that hadn't been there before. Curiously I picked it and unfolded it, amazed by the painting left on the front.

It was of a girl with auburn hair and yellow-gray eyes looking out at the ocean. She was standing behind the rail of a cruise ship and her hair was flapping in the breeze, fighting to touch the stars of the night sky. Little rays of moonlight casted themselves around her but she didn't seem to notice it. Her back was to the life going on in the cruise ship and her gaze was on the wonders of the world. Her eyes were soft and beautifully drawn, gently colored and thought about.

I didn't know why Rachel had left the painting that day. I asked her once about it many years later; when we were much older and wise. She just said that she drew it from her dreams and imagination, nothing that could possibly have been important or anything during those times. She had only left it behind because the girl on the front reminded her of me. The same color of eyes and hair, soft face expression, height and face shape; she just couldn't help herself to let me see her work silently.

One morning while it was the two of us alone at the beach, she was eighteen (or supposed to be anyway **wink, wink**), and I was seventeen. We were watching the waves wash back and forth onto the soft white sand when I asked her the question that had been on my mind for so long.

"Rachel," my voice drowned out the birds chirping everywhere, "why did you leave that picture behind? The one from when we were about ten. I mean, I know that the girl on it was me and everything, but there's got to be another reason. Something else that drove you to come up to me and buy that necklace. So… what's that reason?"

Rachel gazed out at the sea then back at me, those bright green eyes matching her smile. "Because Selene, I wanted you to read the Greek message scribbled in where the stars where. Didn't you notice the weird colors there when you looked at it?"

I shook my head slowly, guilty of being oblivious. "No. what did it say though?"

"It said," she took a deep breath, staring into my eyes like the world had evaporated around us. "To remember Rachel Elizabeth Dare, you're future friend."

I couldn't stop smiling after that.

**Author's Note:**** so many people putting this on their favorite stories list or addition to their story alerts. I ask though, why don't you review it? Tell me what you think of it, what you don't like, what you think is going to happen, anything and/or everything. Just review and spread the word about Sun's New Moon. And besides, it's not every day that Selene meets a character from Camp Half Blood. So why not take in the moment of this chapter? Selene tells me that Rachel smells like Skittles… ;) **


	11. Gangbanger Attack

** Selene's Note: why is it that not very many people are reading this story? Is it the beginning that's losing their attention? The bad grammar? Tell me what it and I'll fix it. And if it's not anything, then could you get your friends to read my biography? Because I mean, seriously, why wouldn't you want to get the opinion of someone on the **_**outside **_**of Percy's little group?**

Alright let's be honest. Taking Silena's jewelry was wrong and selfish, but when you're me and have to earn a living, breaking the 'rules' of life is a perfect common thing. Basically you just chuck them out the window without even realizing what they're landing on outside. Which is why I'm usually left paranoid most days I sleep outside in the cold and wet streets of New York…

I walked along the sidewalk with a soft pink color covering the tips of my ears and nose. White fog came out of my mouth while I breathed out and from this dark and abandoned alley I was more paranoid than ever. Especially since it was late night and I was going to the place where I had slept a few days before. Shivers kept on running up and down my spine and I knew that there was no way to stop them. But hey, talk about paranoid activity right? ;).

A huge man came out of nowhere wearing baggy pants and an oversized sweater on his tattooed arms. He must've been hiding behind a car or something because before I knew it, he had hurled me against the wall of a brick building while his buddies came up behind and grinned in their victory. One of them was carrying a gun.

"Scream for help and I'll shoot you," his breath tasted of tobacco and pot. I crinkled my nose and squeezed my eyes shut. Oh man I was going to get mugged; I was going to get mugged…

"Let her go foo' she's just a kid." One of the gangbangers said. He was the shortest of them and darkest, his skin color reminded me of Beckendorf's coffee colored eyes.

The one holding me up against the wall didn't let go. He snarled his lips up in a hiss and I was tempted to spit in his mouth. "Just a kid. you wish."

I dropped my bag and it splattered to the ground, Silena's left over jewelry scattering all over the cement. I was lucky that I had my money in my pants pockets, not in the pile of junk on the ground. The gangbanger holding me up grinned like a snake, slowly looking up from my bag of valuables.

"Whatcha got there little girl?" he mocked. "Mother's jewelry box?"

I tried kicking and wiggling out of his grasp but he has me up two feet from the ground. No way in bloody hell was I able to get my feet back on the sidewalk; much less have them carry me all the way away from this crap.

"Grab the jewels." Mr. Tough Guy said to his buddies. "Take them and give me the gun. I'll take care of this little maggot."

The two gangbangers scooped up the jewelry but left my bag of stuff behind. They ran into the street then away in this dark cold night. I gulped silently and felt my hands trembling. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, this man was going to kill me…

He aimed the gun at my face but still was able to keep one hand on my neck, securing me up against the wall with my feet dangling in the air. I felt my air running out and my neck stretching, all nothing as scary and painful as watching the man point the weapon in my face. He had a wickedly evil grin on his face that reminded me of the devil and I couldn't help thinking that this was my punishment for stealing Silena's stuff.

Before I knew it seconds later I was looking down into the barrel of a gun and holding my breath.

_Goodbye world. _

That's when the trigger was pulled back and I heard a bang.


	12. Selene's Stalkers

3rd person Point of View:

"So… tell me again why we're up here?" Lee asked Chris.

Chris set down his binoculars (that he "borrowed" somehow…) and looked at his best friend skeptically. He took in the moment of being up high in the air and on a rooftop again, he could still even see that dark night of being on the apartment's roof from when he first met Selene.

"Because," Chris said as a matter of fact, "I think that girl Selene is some sort of demi-god. She can see through the Mist and she's got ADHD, pretty high chance that she's one of us."

"But we're up on this building's roof because…?"

Chris sighed and turned back to the view of New Yorkers down below. He put his binoculars back to face and said, "Because we're keeping an eye on Selene remember? I don't know yet if she usually comes by this street or not but there's a good chance she does and I want to see where that girl hangs out a lot."

"So basically you're stalking her?" Lee asked.

Chris scoffed. "No… not exactly."

Lee chuckled and looked out over the edge of the building, seeing the crowds of people down below like ants in a burrow. He took a step back (understanding why Beckendorf's afraid of heights) and gripped his leather bracelet, a small gift from his father. "So… what will we do if we see her?"

"Like you just said earlier," Chris replied. "We're going to officially stalk her."

"Ahhh you're turning more and more into a child of Hermes every day Chris, man I'll never get tired of it." Lee whisked. He shifted his weight onto his other foot and glanced up at the sky, wishing that it wasn't sunset already.

"Uh huh. Yeah, sure. Go ahead." Chris wasn't really listening anymore since the crowds of people down below were starting to part, the street growing more deserted as the hour grew on. Both boys stayed there until late night when a small figure walked along the sidewalk. A small _female_ figure.

"Dude, check it out." Lee nudged sleepy Chris a few times and pointed at the tiny dot on the ground, grabbing his binoculars at the same time. "Here, look through these and tell me if that's her."

Chris took the binoculars and peered through them, the sly grin on his face growing bigger by the second. "Oh yeah, that's Selene alright. Whataya think she's doing out so late?"

"She's a street kid, remember?" Lee said. "The night is always our hideout."

"True that." Chris adjusted the lenses so that he could get a better view of the auburn haired girl and see what she was doing. He didn't notice the group of gangsters hiding behind a couple of cars though so when they rampaged her on the street and banged her against the wall of a brick building, he almost jumped out of his skin. "Oh my gods dude! Look!"

He quickly handed Lee the binoculars that snatched them from his hands and looked through them, seeing the girl hopeless as she took on the gangsters. "One of them has a gun," Lee noticed. "They just took her stuff, and… Chris he's pointing the gun at her! He's pointing it at her face!"

"Gimme those then!" Chris snatched back his borrowed item while Lee snapped the leather band on his wrist. In a flash the bracelet became a bow that had the scent of lemonade, the smell that always relaxed him and reminded him of home. There was also a quiver of arrows on Lee's back where he picked one from and aimed it at the ground, shooting it at the gangster's gunned hand.

"No way are you going to kill her." Lee whispered. He released the arrow in his bow and watched as it flew down to the street below, the fletched weapon shooting down gracefully.

"Please don't miss, please don't miss," Lee murmured over and over. He gave in to temptation and grabbed a hold of Chris's binoculars, watching the scene closely.

Even from up four stories the boys could hear the bang as the gun's trigger was pulled back and a bullet was shot at Selene's head. Only milliseconds before the sharp part of Lee's arrows pierced into the gangsters hand and set of the aim off the gun, throwing the bullet toward a section in the brick wall behind Selene. He dropped the gun suddenly and clutched his shot hand with the other, Selene dropping the ground from the release of his hold. The gangster cursed and spat, eyeing the blood all over his hands and the arrow that was inside. Though he didn't notice Selene grabbing the gun out of panic and aiming it at the ground, shooting the bullets toward his feet just to scare the crap out of him.

_This is all not real_, Selene thought. _This has got to be a dream. _

Once the gun was out of ammo she threw it at the gangsters head and dashed off to another street, not taking any time to look back and see what had happened. She ran through street corners and trafficked roads, her braided hair bumping against her back. Hey body crossed into Times Square and up in the highest tree, not realizing that she had been going up into it like a squirrel.

Selene crouched low at its base and leaned against the strongest and fattest limb, breathing heavily from the run. _That did not just happen, that did not just become true. _She thought over and over again. _That isn't real, this is just a dream. I'm going to wake up soon and realize that it was just a nightmare._

She leaned her head into her arms and bawled her eyes out, sniffling and rushing the pain away. _No, no, no… I'm not going to wake up. This is_ not _just a dream. _

_ It's a living nightmare. _

"You saved her," Chris gaped at Lee. "You actually saved that little girl's life."

Lee couldn't help but to give a shy smile and shrug, his cheeks growing a little pink in the darkness. "Well… it was just a lucky shot I guess."

Chris tilted his head slightly then asked his best friend a very serious question. "So... why did you then? If you didn't think that you were going to hit directly, then why did you even try? Why not just save the girl the pain of being a street kid by letting her die? Why did you try to save her life?"

Lee gazed down at his feet and clutched his bow tightly, the lemonade scent washing over him. "Because," he said after a moment of thinking, "she still got a life to live. No matter how crappy it is."


	13. Protector Eclipse

I woke up to find myself up in a thick tree, frozen solid because I had no protection from the wind. It was bright early morning when people where just barely waking up, when the sky was just beginning to turn pink from the sunrise. I uncurled my body from the position I was in and stood up slowly, stretching out my muscles carefully and coldly.

I couldn't remember dreaming anything other than about those five guys in the apartment. The ones that tried to kick me out but one had decided to help. What was his name again? Chris Rooster? Ahh humbug, I forgot anyway.

Peering over the edge of the tree and seeing how high I was, I let my body warm up a bit before jumping down from the lowest branch. I landed with a painful thump on the ground when nobody was looking and I started walking casually, going anywhere and somewhere.

I gave myself a bagful of cussing for being so reckless and stupid. _Climbing a tree in the middle of the night,_ I thought. _Psh, yeah right Selene. There's no way I could have done that._

I grabbed my bag form the ground and continued walking until I hit one of the main streets that had a lot of shops and restaurants. I strolled along causally as though last night had never happened until I came across one of those shops with the tellys in the display case. It was featuring the local news and one of the reporters, a woman with stunning gray hair and piercing wrinkles, was talking about who knows what.

_"on other accounts, twenty six year old Sandra Stoll was found dead in front of her apartment building at three twenty four A.M. Authorities say that she had fallen out of her third story apartment building window and landing with a severe crash on broken glass. Police have investigated her apartment room and said that she was pushed out most likely, considering all the damage done in her apartment. Police have also found out that Sandra Stoll had two sons named Connor Stoll and Travis Stoll, both whose' whereabouts are unknown. _

_ "The two brothers are believed to be on the run and suspects of being the murderers of their mother Sandra. They are identical enough to be considered twins, but it is noted that indeed Travis Stoll is a year older than Connor. However both boys appear to be thirteen years old with blue eyes, straight short brown hair, and freckles. They seem to be five foot two and weigh around a hundred pounds. Here are their pictures." _

The screen changed and showed two boys side by side sitting down and smiling at the camera. They each had one arm around each other and in the background was normal preteen's bedroom, bunk bed and everything. Both boys had these sharp and pointy features that reminded me of Santa's Helpers. I shuddered and wondered if they were ever listed as trouble makers in their classrooms.

"We're screwed." A boy said to his friend. They were standing in front of the display case like me and had their black sweaters up over their faces, one of them with his back to me.

"What're we going to do now?" one of the boy's said. "We can't go back home. Do you think we could maybe make it to Camp?"

The taller one, (and probably older too,) friend shook his head and looked to the ground, "doubt it. We'll need to find another half blood maybe, or a satyr somewhere. Do you think Grover would be able to take us?"

"Probably not dude. He's more than halfway across the city or something."

"Yeah you're right." one of the friends sighed loudly and took the other's side, walking together down the street again. As they shouldered past me though, I couldn't help but to get a quick glimpse of their faces.

They had blue eyes and brown hair, freckles and grins that told you to never underestimate them. They both wore matching scars on their necks but it didn't take away from the fact that these two boys, indeed, were the Stoll brothers. The ones on the loose, and probably the murderers of their own mother.

(Time Laps)

The dog was only a puppy, small enough to fit inside a picnic basket really. It had fluffy white fur stained gray and black, its bright yellow eyes the color of an eclipsed moon. It walked with a short limp, almost as though something were stuck in its paw. I watched it stroll along the sidewalks unnoticeably from the New Yorkers until it came in front of a deli shop. There on a small cracked spot by the entrance door it sat patiently, waiting for a person to come out and offer a treat.

Loitered at the bench nearby and watched this dog, observing how it was so still and motionless in waiting. _Dang, what kind of dog breed is this?_ I wondered.

Quick as a flash of lightning, the dog's head moved and looked around, its eyes catching mine.

_Did you just say something? _A voice whispered in my head.

I spun around and glanced at all the people nearby, none of them having talked to me.

_What was that?_ I thought.

_It was me. _

Out of complete surprise, the little puppy dog strolled up to me with a goofy grin on his face. It tilted its head slightly and gazed up at me in awe, those patches of black on its fur now coming alive as grease and garbage. _You can… hear me can't you? _

Freaked out and scared, I nodded to this puppy.

He gave a small yep that caught no attention from passing people and I jumped slightly at this. _That's amazing then! I'm Eclipse, what's your name?_

_Selene…_ I recoiled from my seat on the bench and gulped, trying to get away from this puppy as soon as possible. I took steps backward and into the crowd of New Yorkers before it could even react on time.

_Hey wait!_ Eclipse yelped. _Where are you going? Come back!_ It ran through the sidewalk and into clumps of people walking absently. I could hear those little barks it gave of but I couldn't stop its voice going through my head.

_What's was going on? Why am I hearing this?_ I shook my head at myself and was about to walk into a library when the puppy yelled out:

_It's because you're special Selene! That's why you can hear me! Because you have a special gift! _

I stopped halfway on the steps to the library and turned around, seeing the little puppy dog at the base of the stairs. _What're you talking about? _

_C'mon Selene, haven't you ever seen really weird things? Like disappearing people or snakes with legs? Isn't that kind of stuff normal to you?_

I shook my head slowly.

Eclipse made a gesture that resembled a sigh very well and stared at me harder with his big yellow eyes. _Well then, how about this: have you met people or done things that led you to greater stuff? _Really _great stuff? Almost as though Fate itself made sure that it happened? _

I thought about Angela and Chris, one side of me wondering if they were "great stuff" so much.

_Well it's the same with me, _Eclipse's voice said in my head, oblivious to my other thoughts._ That's why I'm now your Protector, because you can hear me talk to you._

I gulped slowly and whispered quietly to no one in particular, "am I going mental?"


	14. Your Faith Walks on Broken Glass

The idea of a dog being able to communicate with me in my mind gave me the creepers, but at least I had someone at my side to help me with staying alive. Eclipse was fearless (most of the time), he would go out of his way to get food for us and teach about everything going on in the city. But the next night after I met him, no way could he have protected me from it…

It was midnight, the moon almost full and a complete circle. It hung above the New York skyscrapers and hid away from the city's lights, the brightness and shinning strength too eager in not letting the moon show. I bit my lip scarcely and glanced down at Eclipse walking by my side, his head not even reaching the height of my knees.

I took out my mp3 randomly and set it to play, the music filling me up and yet clearing my mind.

_ Do you know what's worth fighting for?_

Love, friends, family, I thought.

_When it's not worth dying for? _

_ Does it take your breath away? _

_ And you feel like suffocating? _

I kept on walking into a part of the city that looked a little empty, ghetto even. There was even more graffiti in this place and it set my nerves on an end. I hugged my arms and tried to keep warm just as a wintery snowfall came glistering down. I cursed under my breath about and already could feel the chills coming in. but hey, at least I had made it this far as a street kid. Only I couldn't really be happy about it. 

_Does the pain weigh out the pride?  
And you look for a place to hide?_

Eclipse and I scavenged around for a sleeping spot, not even thinking about going into those creepy and frightening alleys.

_Did someone break your heart inside?_

Angela. _  
You're in ruins_

Not yet I'm not.

Almost as on cue, a banging shot exploded from somewhere in the street. It set a fright in my bones and I jumped up five feet in the air, Eclipse giving out a discouraged bark while at it. We heard more gunshots and people yelling, screaming as broken glass fell on the ground.

_One, 21 guns  
Lay down your arms, give up the fight_

_One, 21 guns_

_Throw up your arms into the sky, you and I_

No, I'm not going to. I have to keep Eclipse and I alive.

_When you're at the end of the road,_

We dashed into a store that already had its windows broken and hid beneath the main counter. Scared out of my wits while watching people run foggily in the streets, I prayed to keep myself in line.

_And you've lost all sense of control,_

_And your thoughts have taken their toll.  
When your mind breaks the spirit of your soul. _

I closed my eyes as the mass shooting continued, the creaking glass shaking in sparks as the gun bullets reached them. A few shards came close to Eclipse and I, only to be blocked by the counter we hid behind. I felt my little puppy press against my side, trembling in fear of death.

_ Your faith walks on broken glass, _

_ And the hangover doesn't pass,_

_ Nothing's ever built to last, _

_ You're in ruins. _

I sought my gaze away from the chaos outside and looked at Eclipse, so scared out of his mind. I crouched down and hugged him tightly, telling myself over and over again that we were going to be okay.

An ever bigger explosion came through from outside, this time the bullets getting louder and louder in my ears.

_One, 21 guns. _

_Lay down your arms, give up the fight. _

"Make it stop! Make it stop!" I yelled to God. "Make it stop! Please…"

_One, 21 guns. _

_Throw up your arms into the sky, you and I. _

Two shadowy figures appeared from the edge of the counter, both of them wearing masked hoods. I crept away from them until I saw their faces in the darkness, which was when I was even more chilled than ever.

It was Travis and Connor Stoll, the two brothers that killed their mother on the news yesterday. I screamed at them to get away but over my shouting they both yelled in turns:

"_Did you try to live on your own?"_

"_When you burned down the house and home?" _

"_Did you stand too close to the fire?"_

"_Like a liar begging for forgiveness, from the stone?" _

The shooting outside grew quiet, almost gone now that people were only slightly yelling, most bawling. The guns must've wasted all their bullets or the shooters themselves got taken out, one by one falling into the concrete of the sidewalks.

"_When it's time to live and let die,_" one of them said slowly,

"_And you can't get another try, _

"_Something inside your heart has died. _

"_You're in ruins." _he finished.

Both boys gazed at me with watering eyes as they nodding in unison, neither of them noticing Eclipse. I nodded back and waited as the shooting disappeared second by second, too paranoid to get up from behind the counter. The Stoll brothers didn't say anything for the whole night as we all stayed there, silent prisoners in own own fear.

**Author's Note: so… what ya'll think? Too confusing? Weird? Random? Let me know! Review please (you have no idea how much I'm begging for them)! 21 Guns rightfully belongs to Green Day not me and neither does Percy Jackson, Rick Riodan own the books I'm just here to do the fan fiction. Either way, what'd you guys like (or hate) about the song I added into the moment? You think it was good or bad?**

**P.S. Anybody up to be my beta reader? **


	15. My 10th Birthday

I checked the wristwatch Chris gave me: 3:34 PM. I breathed silently and transformed the watch into a switchblade, Connor and Travis's eyes magnetizing before me.

"Whoa… where'd you get that?" one of them asked.

I coiled away from their gazes and pressed Eclipse closer to myself, not trusting these two boys. "A friend gave it to me." I whispered quietly.

The brothers nodded and glanced out at the streets in front of the shop we were in, paranoid about what would happen. "Do you think the shooters are all gone?" one of them asked. His brother shrugged and turned back to me, his eye sulked under his hood.

"Are you human?" he asked seriously.

I raised an eyebrow, "are you mental?"

He pulled back, pressing himself against the counter cabinets. "No. Just… what type of metal is that knife?"

I gazed down at the switchblade and wondered how it must glow slightly in the darkness. "I don't know. Bronze, maybe?"

"What kind of bronze?" the other brother asked.

I gave them skeptical looks. "How am I supposed to know? Do I look like a blacksmith to you?"

They didn't answer that.

"Exactly." I hissed.

We all sought away our gazes from each other and went off to our own thoughts, speaking only every few seconds. Earlier before this scene with only half an hour into the shooting of last night, the police had come and "taken care of it." People were hustled away, the dead were seen to, and the whole place was marked as a crime scene. Lucky for us though, we had scrambled into deeper hiding within the shop when the cops came close. They didn't catch us though; none of them had bothered looking into the cabinets under the kitchen sinks.

"when should we get out of here?" the shorter one of the brothers, I bet it was Connor, asked. He was looking at me when he said it.

I looked away hastily and set the switchblade back into a wristwatch, remembering exactly how Chris had done it. Only special people can see it, Chris had told me, meaning that if Connor and Travis can see it, then their special too. Bloody hell…

"So you guys can really see the knife of it huh?" I said, my accent was really heavy in that sentence. "Do you know… why?"

"Maybe," Travis said.

I ignored his remarkable comment and said, "it's because you lads are special. Did you know that?"

They looked at each other and shrugged. stretching out the question Connor said, "do you know what kind of special?"

I shook my head, ashamed to not know the answer.

This got Travis's attention. He sat up straighter and asked if I had ADHD and dyslexia. I answered yes. Then he asked if I had both my parents. I told him the same thing I had told Angela: "I don't have anybody, I'm an orphan."

That seemed to get their attention even more. "What friend was it that gave you the watch?"

That's when I got paranoid. I drew away slowly from them. "Why do you want to know?"

"Just wondering," Connor said. His eyes said much more than the mouth. "So… have you ever heard of a half blood or demi-god?"

I stood up abruptly, causing Eclipse to be alert as well. "That's it, you blokes are mental all right. Have you ever thought about checking into the asylum?" I walked away from them and exited the shop, running within the shadows away from the crime scene people.

I made it a few blocks away from the mass shooting neighborhood before I stopped and took a breath, leaning down against a bench at an old statue. _Tell me Eclipse_, I said in my mind, _why is everything so hard?_

His voice felt like a whisper_. Because we were born into it._

(Time Lapse.)

The day felt bland until I counted of the days on my fingers. December 24 was the day I met Angela **(I barely realize it now that it was Christmas Eve that day, meaning that when it was Christmas Day I had come into America! That'll be something to sure tell the children when I get older…),** so if I counted the seven days from the 24th then today would be the 31st, New Year's Eve.

Meaning that today was my tenth birthday.

Uh oh.

I recalled all of the warnings Chris and Angela had given me, something about being glad that I was only nine still. So if I was now ten then was something going to happen? Something… big? I didn't know so much about the traditions in American for when a child turns ten, but I figured it wouldn't be any of my guesses.

_At what time of the day where you born Selene? _Eclipse asked.

I shrugged and we both sat down on the bench, hunger starting to linger in our bellies. _At the point between dawn and twilight, _I said. _I just don't know the exact hour._

_ So you were born on New Year's Eve at the point when Artemis and Apollo fight over the sky… _Eclipse murmured. _Interesting… _

I raised him an eyebrow. _How do you know about the Greek gods? _

_ I'm not what you think I am you know. _He said. He padded up in front of me and let me look at the fur by his left shoulder. On that side under all of the grime and filth was a pale yellow crescent moon shape colored in his fur. It didn't look very permanent but it looked dyed enough to last until the summer.

_What is this? _I asked.

_It's a marking. _Eclipse said. _I wasn't really supposed to be born in my family since where I come from not only is mating and having children is considered a crime, but also being a _male _is downright insulting. So before they found out that I wasn't a girl, they marked the cresent moon on to my shoulder. But after so they kicked me out of the group, leaving me to go find someone to protect on my own. _

_ Why is it a crescent moon? Why not something else? I asked. _

_ Because our leader in the group had a strong connection with the night and moon. She would always talk about it as though it was living and never did I ever hear her talk about the sun as though it were something useful. _

I tried to hide my surprise. I rubbed my golden necklace and memorized the sun and moon crescent on it, still not believing how at day, the necklace would be gold. But at night, the necklace would be silver. Maybe it's made out of this weird metal that only Americans have…

_There's going to be parade today Selene, _Eclipse said cheerfully, _maybe we could go and see if we could find something while at it. Besides, it's your birthday right? Let's enjoy it while we can. _

I agreed and we headed off to Grand Central Station, aware that people were already forming crowds along the streets to see the performances. From overhearing people talk I picked up on a few things. One was that the parade was going to display 365 things that happened in the past year. So one event for each day. Two, there was a rumor going about that some hot swimsuit model was going to be in the sidelines picking out girls to bring to his next fashion show. And three, at the strike of midnight the parade was going to end, just in time for the fireworks to explode in the city to signal the coming of another year.

Oh boy I was going to enjoy this.

Eclipse and I waited until eight in the evening for the parade to start, two small dots in the midst of a confetti pile. People pushed and rushed around us, most of them trying to get a good look at the performers. The sky was dark and the winds were strong; I had to carry Eclipse in my arms for him to stay warm. We cheered along with the crowd when the parade started and watched in owl eyes, seeing all the lights and beautiful dancers. There was the swimsuit model in the celebration yes, but he was kept well away from the screaming girls next to me.

After an hour of watching the march, fire players came next in line. There were about a hundred of them, all ranging from kids as old as me to people who were old enough to be my grandfparents. Each of them carried a lithe strong looking staff with fire rising out of the both ends. None of them were afraid of it, maybe awed by the precious colors they made but not scared of burning themselves. I cheered when they made a "Ring of Fire" and set release to a "phoenix" bird. Nether spectacle could have matched the other in the fire dancing they did, not even how they warmed the crowd up with the blazing torches of warmth.

_Selene look, _Eclipse touched my arm with his nose and pointed it to somebody in the audience next to us, a boy of merely my age. _He's watching us. _

I turned my head without trying to seem too obvious and took a quick glance at the boy, the flames from a couple meters away brightening up his face.

The boy was young, barely ten I bet. He had short black hair and mellow blue eyes, ones that made you sleepy. He wore raggedy clothes and a ripped jacket, nether looking too warm. His gaze was on me and I couldn't help but to see the heat in his eyes, the burning look that made me shiver. The boy glanced away after a second and kept on watching the parade, only this time he was inching closer to me.

_Let's go. _I told Eclipse. _This place doesn't feel safe anymore and that boy is giving me a fright. _

Eclipse obeyed and jumped out of my arms, landing on the sidewalk with grace and elegance. I followed him away from the parade and onto another set of blocks, this time footsteps easily heard on the concrete. I risked a glance behind me and saw the boy, not even making the effort to hide or move out of sight. I picked up the pace and walked into a subway station, one that was deserted and empty except for us.

Eclipse and I stood against a wall away from the entrance and together we took a breath, looking at each other in surprise.

_You okay? _He asked.

I nodded. _Yeah. Just a little spooked. _

_ You tell me. _He said. He took a peek over to the platform of the subway and immediately he let out a bark. As soon as I could ask him to be quiet and tell me what's wrong, a hand came out and grabbed him.

And I'm not just talking about a regular human hand, I'm talking about a humongous hand bigger than any Hulk's or giants hand out there. It was strong and muscular and could just pick up my little dog with no effort. That grew me mad and scared.

Eclipse let out shrieks and squeals of fear as he was carried up seven feet to the face of the monster, a bone crunching Cyclops. _Run Selene run! _He whimpered. _It's a Cyclops! It's you he wants! _

_ What are you talking about? _I shouted. _Cyclops. Aren't. Real! _I ran up to the monster and with the weight in my bag, I hit it against his hip. "Hey mister!" I shouted. "Let. Go. Of. My. Dog!" with each word I gave him a hit, knowing that it did no damage to him.

The Cyclops studied Eclipse for a second then looked at me, his single big eye freezing me in place. I knew the monster was real then. He had dozens of leather necklaces around his neck and they all held one or more beads, some of them the exact same. I stopped hitting the Cyclops and backed away slowly, looking up at its massive figure.

_Run Selene run! Call for help! Just get away Selene! _Eclipse struggled against the grasp of the monster by biting and barking at his hand, nothing making any difference. _Get away Selene! Get away now! _

_ "I'm not leaving you Eclipse!" _I didn't realize that I had screamed that out loud, because one second after that…

I got a whack to the chest and ribs from the Cyclops free hand.

He bellowed in rage and raised both arms up in triumph as I got knocked against a wall then on to the ground. I let out a scream of pain and hugged my ribs, feeing the throbbing and sting from the hit. "HELP!" I screamed. "Somebody help me! please!"

"Yo Ugly!" the Cyclops felt a hit to the back of his shoulder so he turned around, seeing the blue eyed boy behind him. The boy held a rock in his hand and two double edged swords were strapped to his back, the handles only visible by inches. "Pick on someone who knows what you are!"

The Cyclops let go of Eclipse (meaning that he released my poor puppy dog and let him fall seven feet to the ground) and roared at the boy, the waves sending his hair back. "Two half bloods!" the Cyclops hollered. "Good meal today!"

"Never!" the boy shouted. The burning fire in his eyes was raised by miles as he ran at the Cyclops, his rocks discarded now and a bronze sword in his hands. He pointed it blank at the Cyclops chest where he would only have to jump to get a perfect stab in the heart. Only this monster had different plans.

It waved its arm in front of the boy and sent him back a little, his butt skidding across the concrete. The Cyclops roared his victory and jumped to the boy, crushing him if he hadn't rolled over a few feet in time. I sat watching the whole time as the monster and boy fought over and over, each gaining little victory as the time went on. I couldn't move for my ribs felt broken and bruised, forcing me to stay put. Eclipse crawled over to me quietly and rubbed my cheek with his nose.

_You okay? _He asked.

I nodded. Pointing at the monster I asked, _is this really real? _

Eclipse nodded and said that if things went bad, then I should go get help from somebody who could see my watch turn into a knife.

The knife! Of course!

While my puppy lay by my side, heaving and gasping in shock, I took out my watch and pressed the side button. Immediately the thing transformed into a wicked blade, bronze and glowing throughout the place.

The boy fighting with the monster accidently got the lights broken so darkness was everywhere for them. It was more dangerous for him because he couldn't see in the dark like me.

The boy's face was beaded with sweat and he had out his last sword, the old one having faced the Cyclops strength by being bent in half. There was no more burning fire in his blue eyes, only pain stricken fear with his back against a wall. I felt the fright for him, scanning my eyes everywhere for the monster.

Eclipse let out a crying bark just as the Cyclops was seen coming out from the subway tunnel, this time with a friend. I gulped and could feel tears welling up in my eyes. We were going to die. _Killed by a Greek monster_ it would say on our gravestones.

"In the tunnels!" I screamed to the boy. "There are two of them!"

"Dad save me." he whispered.

A roar bellowed from one of the Cyclops as he reared for the boy, the other was running toward me. I closed my eyes and watched as its body grew bigger in my sight, the knife still in my hands.

Blind and not knowing what I was doing, I shot the knife toward the chest of the monster and waited to die with my puppy by my side. Only the monster exploded into gray dust right at my feet and its raging snarls were no more to be heard.

But strangely, my knife wasn't done yet.

It flashed through the air in the subway station and went straight for the other Cyclops, the one that was now hovering over the boy. The boy let out another slash of his sword just as my knife connected with the heart of his Cyclops, both of our weapons casting the monster into dust. We let out screams of pain at the same time and waited to watch or feel death. That didn't happen because the only thing we felt was the silence in the room.

"Holy snakes did you just do that?" the boy yelled. "Did you throw that knife?"

He was asking me. Through pain I said, "Yes. I didn't think that it would kill it though."

"Oh you're wicked." The boy said. He fumbled around in his pockets and brought out a flashlight. Scanning it in my eyes and blinding me for a second I could hear his footsteps near.

The boy strapped his sword against his back and gazed at me, his blue eyes emotionless at the moment. I cradled Eclipse closer to my side and realized that my puppy was hurt too, he had faced a hard crushing when the Cyclops took him. I let out a tear and sniffle as I checked my puppy for more damage.

"Is he yours?" the boy asked.

I nodded. "I'm his." I sat Eclipse in my lap and brushed his fur, whispering that he was going to be okay.

"Are you hurt badly?"

My hand went to my ribs and without even having to look I knew I had them broken. "Yeah. Are you?"

The boy shook his head and held his hand out. Automatically I took it. "it's only just a few scratches." He said. He helped me up gently while I winced in pain. "Gods we gotta get you to an Apollo kid," he murmured.

I dismissed asking why he was talking about Apollo when I felt a warm liquid running down my leg. I must've had a bad gash from that monster. "I should maybe… sit… down." I stumbled against the boy and leaned toward him, black dots forming my vision. He caught me by the arms and supported my side, just as I slipped into deep darkness.

Looking back on it, I think that I had passed out.


	16. Memories of a Nightmare

_Everywhere you looked there was ether a tree, bush, or branch. Everything was so tightly packed together in that forest that if daresay anybody was to run, they would be falling to the ground in a matter of seconds. The forest didn't really have a name, just this blank feeling of echoes whenever one was in the forest at night. _

_ Which is what my parents were doing on my third birthday. _

_ We all had been traveling for days now, on the run from something that I was too young to know about. They all had arrows and bows, small knives every once and a while. Never could I believe it when my father took a small step into a patch of dead grass he would almost fall straight into a volley of arrows. I watched in horror most nights when my parents would risk their whole lives just for me. _

_ My father was the bravest person I ever knew before. He was well muscled and skilled at archery before I could even say my first words. His short cropped golden hair and gentle blue eyes gave him the look of a god, a god that would fight to the end for him daughter. _

_ My mother was very different to my father and I. everything of her was a dark shade of brown: night brown eyes, brown caramel colored skin, chocolate brown waves of hair. She could blend in easily to the forest and trees if she wanted too. But she was on the run with my father and I, never once did we stop and look for our followers. _

_ "Robert," my mother whispered. "We have to stop now. My legs are aching and I cannot take any more. I'll break if I'm forced to take any more steps." _

_ "Alright darling. Hand me Helia then." My father reached out his arms as my mother carefully handed me over. A child of only three I was at the time, and still called by my first name instead of middle. I was wide awake but in full blown terror because the night gave many warnings of danger. _

_ I gazed into my dad's eyes and memorized that forget me not blue, wondering why my eyes were of gray and yellow. "A golden, silver," my mother had once called it. "The two most marvelous colors I have ever seen in one's eyes." _

_ I set my arms tightly around my father's neck and held back my whimpers. I wanted to be let down, to have my feet touch the floor because they felt so numb and dead. "I want to go home now Daddy," I whispered. _

_ He looked at me deeply with tear filled eyes then hugged me tight, in a low voice he whispered: "the sun does not rise on command as nether does the moon lower on order." _

_ I had never any idea what his words meant, but I didn't have time to think about it. _

_ Another volley of arrows came at us, this time all of them aiming close to my head. My father ducked just in time and let the tree behind us take the blow, only the three of us making a run for it a millisecond later. _

_ "We'll have to separate," Daddy said to mom. "I'll lead the hunters away and distract then, meanwhile you two catch the ship heading onto Europe. Arnold should already be there waiting for us." _

_ "But then that means that we'll leave without you," Mom whispered. "You know we won't be able to do that." _

_ An arrow shot straight in front of their faces, they knew they had to act quickly. "You have to go! Now!" Daddy handed me to Mom and with amazing speed, he disappeared into the dark forest. _

_ Meanwhile my mother and I headed a different direction, one toward the scent of saltwater. She carried me under her warm cloak and would only stop to dodge arrows or hide from "the hunters." I was scared speechless the whole time because I knew that it was the moment where it was ether now… Or never. _

_ `Within minutes Mom and I were at a beach, a soft, lazy and quiet beach that was deserted. _

_ "Arnold!" my Mom screamed. "Arnold where are you!" _

_ It was then that I tugged at her shoulder and told her to look around, see the dead body that lay hidden in the trees. _

_ "Arnold." My mother whispered. She dropped me onto the ground and ran to the murdered man, oblivious to the moving black shadows in the forest behind us. _

_ "Arnold," my mother said again. "My darling… they've killed you." She began sobbing and bawling everything she had held inside for such long nights. I wanted to go up to her and be hugged in her arms, but I didn't know if I could. I was stuck frozen in the scene and couldn't move a single muscle. _

_ "I will avenge your death my dead," Mom whispered. "Once I get Helia to safety, I promise that I will come back for you." She kissed her fingertips and set them on to the dead man's forehead, muttering a prayer while at it. _

_ I watched silently until Mom came back to me with a coffin looking box. How she got it, I don't know. She set me into it soberly and washed my face with tears. _

_ "No matter what Helia," Mom whispered, "you will always be in my heart and one of us: a person of gods and goddesses. Your father loves you more than anything as so do I, but now my darling… now we have to say goodbye. I'm sorry." _

_ Mom put a bag of supplies and lid onto of my coffin and I saw her face no more. I could only feel the swishing of water underneath me and the roaring of the waves. _

_ My mother had set me into a box, on to the ocean, and away from her and Daddy. Away from the only family I ever had. _

**Note from Selene: I was never just plain Helia Neoma after that. I was Selene, the three year old orphan who lived at sea for a month and ventured all by herself to Europe. I was always under the watchful gaze of the crescent moon whenever I looked up at the world; it was never the sun that came to me. I don't know how I let myself be forever called Selene, but I sure know now that I was grateful for it. And besides, I didn't even know what was going on. I just knew that I was going to the place opposite of family and love. **

My eyes bolted open, a white ceiling coming before me. I was in a makeshift bed that was made out of blankets and pillows that made my back stiff in soreness.

That dream… that nightmare… that had been the only memory I had of my parents. How could have I dreamed of them out of everything else?

I rubbed my eyes and began to feel a painful stinging in my stomach, just right where my ribs where. I solemnly remembered last night and the Cyclopes attacking. This one boy… this boy with black hair and blue eyes… he had saved me hadn't he? Used to two double edged swords, got one of them bent in half while at it. Dang where was I now?

Without causing too much pain to myself, I turned my head and gazed around the room. It was dirty, gross, and out of shape with cigarette smells everywhere. Little furniture was anywhere and I could see the abandoned projects in the corners and against the walls. Some people had been working on paintings or building stuff in here. And yet the place had a familiar look to it…

Aw damn it.

I was in Chris's apartment.

"Hey there." speaking of the boy, he came in from the other room and greeted me with a warm smile, his body covered in layers of coats. "How're you doing?"

"What're _you_ doing?" I asked. "Why am I here? How'd I even get here?"

Chris scoffed and shifted his weight on to another foot. "Well after the monster attack you had last night… Lucas decided to take you in and let you stay with us."

"Who's Lucas?" I asked.

"That would be me." The black haired and blue eyed boy came walking through the door; he was carrying a cup of water with him. "Remember last night? You saved us from those two monsters."

I looked at him funny. "No, you saved us. I just finished them off for you."

Lucas shrugged and together he and Chris helped me sit up. They let me take some sips out of the cup of water after that.

"So… speaking of monsters…" Chris murmured. "There's something we got to explain to you."

"Dam right you got to explain something to me." I spat. "Monsters like that aren't real, they're made believe. So why would one attack me and then Lucas?"

"That's the thing Selene. That's your name right? Selene?" Lucas asked.

I nodded.

"Well you see, have you ever heard of the Greek gods and goddesses?"

I nodded again.

"Well, guess what? They're real, and right here in America as well. They keep our civilization alive and make sure that we're well populated; meaning that the gods have children with mortals. Which is where we come in." Lucas looked at Chris as he took out a leather beaded necklace around his neck. Hesitantly Chris showed it to me.

"Kids who can see the knife I gave you Selene," he started off, "those kinds of special kids are called demi-gods or half bloods. We're the children of the gods and most of the time we inherit their magical abilities and powers. We mostly get attacked by monsters like the Cyclopes too because well, they like killing us I guess. It's a dangerous life to be a half blood because we're supposed to be heroes for the gods; their own personal mortal children to be proud of."

"And also we have to look out for each other." Lucas said. "This is why we have an offer for you."

Awkward silence.

"Will you join our family?" Chris chocked out. His mouth was having audible difficulties in working. "I mean, we already have Lee, Justin, Beckendorf, Lucas, Ethan, and me. Who else could you want more?"

"Oh I don't know," I pondered. "_My dog maybe_?"

"Oh don't worry she's with Lee right now. They're in the other room taking care of her injuries." Lucas informed.

I glared at him but it was cut short by a stinging in my ribs. "He's a boy," I said. "My dog's a male. His name's Eclipse and I want to see him right now if you don't mind."

"He's asleep right now though." Chris said.

I felt anger bubbling in my stomach. "Just bring him to me; I don't care if he's asleep right now. I just want my puppy dog with me right now."

Chris nodded and walked out the door into the next room, coming back with a white lump in his arms.

"Eclipse?" I whispered.

My puppy wasn't black or gray anymore, the filth that had been forever in his fur was now gone. Everything on him from head to toe was ether a shade of white, silver, or gold. His crescent moon dyed fur wasn't showing but a lump of winter white snow was. My puppy had gotten a bathing most likely,

"Life be damned…" I murmured. "Eclipse… you're so… so… so _white_. So clean, and dirt less, and clean, and white! I can't believe it."

"Yeah we had to give him a bath to treat the injuries better." Chris explained. Gingerly he set my little puppy in my arms as though he were a newborn baby. "He's not to too bad on the healing, getting himself back to health at a really rapid pace actually."

I smiled and rubbed Eclipse's fur gently, feeling his steady and soft breathing. I bent down and kissed the dog's nose just as Lucas said:

"So... I'm guessing that's a yes? You'll join our family?"

I sighed heavily and looked up at the two boys, not believing this. "I don't know fellas, I've barely been out on the streets for a week and I've been through a lot. My mind needs a rest."

"Then take as long as you need." Chris beckoned. He spread his hands wide then put them back together. "We're willing to wait."

I smiled my pleasure and said thank you, tiredness starting to take over again. "Can I have a moment alone with my puppy please? I… I need to gather my thoughts."

"Of course Selene." Chris said.

"No problem Selene," Lucas said.

Together they retreated to the back of the room and away from me and my Eclipse. Once they were fully gone, a hand went up to my necklace and I glanced at the window in there. The light said that it was almost dawn, just a few more moments until sunrise.

I kept on cuddling Eclipse in my arms and when the time came, I looked down at my necklace just as the first rays of sunshine came in to the room. The chain that had once been silver transformed into a gold one right and stayed like that for the rest of the day as I lay in the room for hours. I never called in for any of the guys to come in or get out, I just stayed still and silent as I waited for the necklace to turn silver again.

"Yup," I said out loud to myself once. "I have officially gone mental now. Jolly isn't it?"

**Author's Note: Well, there you have it. The only memory Selene has of her parents. Though I want to point out something in that memory: Selene's mother looks nothing like her. Selene has gray yellow eyes and auburn hair. The mother had brown eyes and brown hair. Plus the dad barely has any resemblance to the girl ether. So… how could it be that they're her parents? You tell me and I'll let you be in one of the past memories of ether Lee or Lucas later on in the story. Also, could you guys tell who was hunting the family while they were out in the forest? Could you guess? If you guess right then it gives a big hint to how Selene is related to the gods… **


	17. Sister Selene

Twilight came fast and early that day, I didn't even have to look out the window to know that my necklace was silver again. I yawned in bed and saw that I still had all my stuff in my bag, nothing gone or added. Eclipse was lazily sleeping next to me and I nudged him with my hand, gently putting away to his annoying snores.

_Eclipse, wake up man. We have to get out of here. _I said. _We're at this person's place right now and I really don't want to be here. We have to get out. Now. _

_ Hm? What? Oh, okay then Selene. _My little puppy flickered his ears in awareness and stretched his furry body out, wincing only once because his ribs hurt.

_How do we get out? _He asked.

_Easy, _I said. _We leave out through the window. _

He moaned loudly.

I gave him a small ear massage to ease those nerves out.

Time lapse.

We got out of the apartment in no time, jumping out the window on to the fire escape was no problem. It was just making sure that the old rusty thing didn't make any noise loud enough for the guys to hear. I had Eclipse in my backpack the whole time because he couldn't walk very well, much less climb three or so stories down a rickety old fire escape.

The moon still seemed full and even though New York was full of bright lights and annoying cars, I think I could hear the wind whistle around and see a moonlight pool not too far away. Temptation was always getting at me so when I stepped into the circle of moonlight, I felt… different.

Refreashed. Healthy. New. Whole. Relaxed. Good. Spirited…

And _safe._

I felt safe in that pool of moonlight. Just feeling that wind whistle throughout my hair and the peace of comforting silence, I just… I just felt so damn good and happy. Nothing could take away that feeling and certainly no one could disturb it from my peace.

Except…. Except for the boy who had followed me out on to the fire escape.

He had been hiding behind a metal stairway, the shadows blending into him and making him almost invisible. His blue eyes watched me lazily until I glanced his way and saw the outline of his shape, that body that looked barely a few days older than me.

"what are you doing Lucas?" I hesitantly asked.

He grinned at himself and shook his head, carefully standing over his hiding place and walking over to me. "just wondering what you're doing Selene. Why are you out here all alone?"

"_Ce n'est rien de votre entreprise,"_ I said in French. (**Yes Selene speaks French; she grew up in London remember?)** "What I do does not need any concerns from you."

"Uh, yes it does." Lucas stepped a closer to me, his eyes not glancing away. "You're one of us Selene, whether you like it or not."

"What you and Chris had said is nothing but rubbish. I see perfectly well that you all just want to have me for your own advantage."

"We want to have you to protect you Selene," Lucas said. "Not to use you."

"Then prove it!" that came out a little harsher than I meant it to, "Prove that you won't ever leave me when something bad comes along. Prove that I can feel your trust and not get kidnapped someday or be raped to death. Prove it you must because I sure can't see it." I felt grief sticking to my chest as I remembered Angela, the girl who had promised that I would be happier here in America. "I barely know you boys! How can I trust you people to keep your promises and not go off one day when the police comes knocking down at our door? How can I know that you won't take me somewhere else away from you all and leave me all alone? How can I know that eh?"

Lucas sighed and put his hands in his pockets, his shaggy black hair falling over his eyes. "Because if we leave you, then we leave everybody else in our family. And gods know that when that day comes we'll all be in the middle of some war fighting for each other and not for somebody else."

"Then why me and not another person? What about Eclipse even? He's all I have now; I am _not_ going to leave him behind."

"But you don't have to Selene; he can be a part of the family as well. You don't have to make this harder than it needs to be."

I wiped away the coming tears and looked down at the moon's light I was standing in. I felt so good here… would I want to leave it and go back to their family?

"Please Selene," Lucas walked a little closer to me, one more step and our bodies would only be inches apart. "Just come with us will you? We'll keep you safe, secure, nice and happy. You won't have to worry about anything other than keeping healthy and staying clean. Just give it a chance Selene. Please?" Lucas held his hand out to me and I stared at it for a few seconds, going over what to do in my head.

If I stayed with him and the guys, I could have help with getting food and water. I would have protection and someone to count on, someone to have my back. But if I also stayed, I would risk being torn apart from somebody that I had grown to like. I would risk being raped by one of the guys or killed by them or starved or… or what? I could risk being choked to death by wires but I would learn from them most likely. I would learn how to fight and defend myself. Could I be able to take those risks?

"Alright." I said. I put my hand in Lucas's. "I'll stay with the family... For now."

"You have no idea how happy you've made me Selene." As soon as my hand touched Lucas's he pulled me into a tight hug that released me from my circle of moonlight. I felt the security of it vanish just like that but soon it was replaced but the safety I felt in Lucas's arms. He was warm and soft against me and I thought that I could just barely_, barely_, feel a spark in him of something more in us. Something more than just of being a sister or even a friend…

Could it be something that I'm not even familiar with?


	18. My Sweet Cousin Silena

**Authors Note: just a heads up, but Selene's name is pronounced SUH-LEE-ne. I know it might sound weird that I'm telling you this but I have met people who thought that it was pronounced Sell-lean. So… yeah. Look for clues on who Selene's godly parent is! **

Doesn't it feel awkward when you're being introduced to someone new and you don't know how to act? Like you want to say something fancy and funny but those words are just caught up in your throat? And then they think that you're dim-witted and already you can just tell that you're not going to get along?

Yeah that was what it was like when I was officially introduced to Justin. He as a child of fifteen and much older than the rest of us (Ethan was eleven at the time; Lee and Chris were twelve; Beckendorf thirteen; and Lucas was the only one who was my age;) so I immediately got the idea that Justin was in charge here: he the boss, the father, the leader of the pack, ect, ect. The only thing that just struck me was of why he had stayed here with the guys. Why he hadn't chosen to leave them already and go on with his own life? I mean, wouldn't it be better for him if he just left and only had himself to worry about?

Just a thought. Nothing personal I wanted to say to the guys.

"So we got a sister now huh?" Ethan asked. He leaned against the wall of the apartment while all the other guys sat around eating in corners of the room. There were various candles lit all around from Beckendorf who was the only one comfortable with fire here. All the candles were out of the way but chillingly they created a ghostly aroma, just balls of yellow shinning down on our skin and making those dark shadows on our faces.

"Yeah I guess we do have a girl now in this all boy family." Chris spoke up. He was munching on some dinosaur fruit snacks. "Do you have any real brothers Selene?"

I shrugged and sat down against a wall, thinking over in my head what I should tell and not show. "No. I grew up in an all girls orphanage in London, so never any family. And certainly not any _boys_."

Beckendorf stopped chewing on his granola bar for a second and stared at me. Through a full mouth he spurt out, "y-you grew up in England?"

I nodded.

He flinched as though he had been slapped but kept on eating. Only through listening ears I could hear him mumble, "Explains the accent and lisp."

I ignored that last comment.

"So Selene," Lucas stole everyone's attention, "determined or underdetermined?"

I gave him a funny look. "Uh…."

"It means do you know who you're godly parent is." Chris said. (Again here we go with this Greek blood stuff…. Ug.)

"I know both my parents." I said.

Everybody turned and looked at me.

"Well, I _knew _both my parents." I corrected.

"So then which ones the godly one?" Lee asked.

I shrugged. "Neither of them seemed god like to me."

Justin sighed very loudly, "Okay so maybe there are a lot of theories to that. One, they weren't your real parents. Maybe just some couple who kidnapped you and took you for themselves. Two, one of them _was_ you're parent, while the other was maybe just a friend or something. Three, they were maybe demigods themselves. It would explain if you have mixed powers."

I shifted uncomfortably on my spot on the floor.

Of course Chris was the one who noticed my awkwardness, "Selene? _Do_ you have any powers?"

I didn't say anything.

"We'll show you ours if you show us yours." Lee offered. "It would help us determining who your godly parent is."

Shyly I nodded and told them to go first. None of them was objecting.

"Okay, I'm going to go up first then." Lee said. He pocketed his food and stood up in the middle of the room; some performer ready to show his skills.

"Okay now, so I've been claimed by my godly parent so I tend to know where my powers have their limits and where they range in the circle of godly stuff. So… watch this." Lee cupped his hands together and focused in on it. For a few seconds nothing happened but then I noticed that Lee's body was now… glowing. Literally.

All of his skin was a lighter shade but still in the tone of a yellowish, golden color. It was like his body was one big giant yellow light bulb during the Christmas time. I gulped at just thinking if he was starting a little warm and hot.

I hadn't noticed Lucas coming down and sitting next to me until he whispered in my ear, "Who do you think his godly parent is?"

I didn't take my gaze away from Lee as I whispered back, "Apollo, god of the sun."

Lucas grinned but didn't say anything. I figured that I had guessed right.

Now Lee had something big and yellow in his hands. Was it some ball? I peered closely and saw that it was light, a solar power light sphere. Something impossible to hold because it's the suns own power and must be at a thousand degrees. Yet Lee didn't seem by any part hurt by it.

"Shield your eyes you guys," Justin ordered.

I glimpsed around the brightened room and saw that all of the other guys had closed squinted their eyes closed or used their hand to shadow their faces. I didn't really see why they needed to do that when I could easily just look at Lee's hands and have no problem with the light.

"Alright Lee," I heard Justin announce. "Stop before you pass out dude."

The ball of light in Lee's hand disappeared and the room got a darker atmosphere in it. I felt colder as Lee collapsed to the floor from having used so much energy.

"Ugggggggggg….." lee moaned. Quickly and diligently Justin helped the boy to his feet and onto a spot by the wall for him to lean on. I found myself staring at him the whole time.

"Can all children of Apollo do that?" I asked out loud.

Justin nodded. "You didn't need to shield your eyes away from that." It wasn't a question.

Yet I still nodded and said, "What's your godly parent Justin?"

He shrugged and wouldn't meet my eyes. "Apollo too, so technically Lee and I are full on half brothers."

"Oh." I turned to the rest of the guys and asked who their parents were. Lucas was a son of Hermes, the god of travelers and merchants ("and mischief," he put in); Beckendorf was a son of Hephaestus, the blacksmith god and husband of Aphrodite; Ethan and Chris… well they were unclaimed like me. Sadly.

The rest of the boys showed me their powers and gifts, Lucas the only one who seemed like he was trying to impress us. He had a magical item given from his dad Hermes: it was a pair of basketball shoes.

Only when you said "Maia!"

They sprout wings.

And can let you fly.

Really fast too.

And didn't need any trying of the laces.

Which I wished I had.

"The knife I gave you Selene was also a magical item," Chris said. "Remember? The one that turns into a watch and switchblade?"

I nodded; then cursed at myself for leaving it in the subway tunnel when the Cyclops attacked.

"It's okay," Lucas said. He handed me some food after hearing my rumbling stomach. "I'm sure some other lucky demi god out there will find it."

I nodded and rubbed the bracelet hidden under my sweater sleeve. It was the bracelet I kept from Silena that was gold and silver, crafted in thin flowers tangled together that I had totally forgotten about. There was something sizzling about this bracelet as I rubbed it, something that got me a little… suspicious.

Earlier after Lee had done his Solar Ball of Light performance, he had showed us this leather bracelet that turned into a set of bow and arrows. (And the thing smelled like lemonade by the way.) So I wondered if maybe this bracelet could do the same…

Pushing back my sleeve and rubbing the piece of jewelry with my skin, I jumped when it transformed into a dagger with bronze double sided blade. The handle was half the size of my hand yet the blade was twice as long. I studied it in the candle light when Justin came running to me, his eyes surprised yet startling angry.

He knocked the dagger out of my hand and pushed my body up against the wall, his eyes frightening yet scared themselves. I felt his hand crushing my neck and securing me up in the air, my oxygen going away almost as fast as from when the gangbangers took me a few nights ago.

"Whoa Justin! Cut it out!" the guys all stood up alert in their positions and tried to pull the fifteen year old away from me, but I can tell that Justin was pretty strong and not going to yield.

He told his brothers to back away and let him deal with me. They were hesitant to obey but they trusted Justin, Lucas was just the only one who stayed close just in case.

Justin pressed my body harder against the wall and asked in a chilling voice, "Were. Did you. Get. That dagger?"

I fumbled my arms around his grip but I was up a foot from the ground, everything of me limp and panicked.

"Answer me girl!" he hissed.

"A-a friend." I stammered.

"What was her name?" Justin gave me a shaking and I knew that my air was running out. I could actually feel my face turning purple and red. Oh bloody my time was ticking, I had only seconds before this boy would chock me to death.

"Sss… S-Si…Lena…" I gasped for air. "Silena B- Beauregard …"

Justin's face went grim for a second as he stared at me with blank blue eyes. Then with just the flick of his wrist, he sent me sprawling all across the floor away from the candles and the others. I lay on the ground gasping for breath when Lucas came beside me and helped me up, his eyes showing fear as well.

Justin settled into a corner of the room with his face watery and miserable. He wouldn't look at any of us as he settled into a corner and cried. Cried hard and loud, I would say, but those tears of Justin Cook were silent and heart shattering.

"My sweet Silena…" he murmured over and over again, "my dear, sweet cousin Silena… she's still alive. She's still out there…" he exploded into a new cascade of sobs and curled into a ball, ignoring everyone else around him.

All of the other guys stood around awkwardly, glimpsing back and forth from Justin to me. They themselves would get a little teary from looking at their leader crying like a little kid. But I couldn't blame them.

Justin had seemed so strong and fearless; watching him cry was a big eye opener for me. Other than my parents, I had never seen an adult cry in person. Especially one who you always had trust and hope in; because if they didn't have the confidence you needed to see, then you're screwed really.

So watching Justin cry about his cousin Silena got me a little uneasy. I wanted to cry myself too, but instead I retreated to one of the rooms and hid in the closet, trying to keep myself in line. I remember there being a pile of junk on the floor, stuff lost in this apartment from all of the times the guys had been in here.

In the darkness of my hiding place and sanctuary, I picked up a torn photograph from the ground and looked at it, my eyes understanding what was real here.

The picture was of Justin and Silena, both of them looking recent in the taking.

So Rose Smelling Silena was family to Justin Cook, meaning that if Silena had that dagger then…

Damn.

Silena Beauregard must have been a half blood too.

**Author's Note: oooh suspense! Love it. Lol if you want to see the picture of Justin and Silena, then go on my Facebook (Emmarina Aniramme) and look around my profile. The picture looks a little like Silena and Justin are older, but that's because the picture was taken the year Justin ran away. But yes indeed, Justin and Silena were cousins on the mortal side. Only Justin was the only one who knew so he gave Silena the bracelet just in case, hoping that she would figure out that it transformed into a dagger. Oh and by the way, review please! I want to get to at least 30 reviews so that I know that my readers like the story! **

** And while at it, any more guesses on Selene Olympian blood? And just something I hope you guys have noticed and wondered about: **

** In the last chapter Selene had a couple of broken ribs, but now in this chapter she's perfect fine. Why? Could it be of something that happened in the last chapter? Review and guess! **


	19. I Just Want a Family

**Ug sorry ya'll but I keep on forgetting to tell ya' that Eclipse looks like a white husky. If he were a dog then that would be what people would mistake him for. ;) **

If it wasn't for Eclipse, then I wouldn't have ever been able to cope up living like this.

I had stayed hiding in the closet for the whole night and when Eclipse woke up from his evening nap, he followed my scent and found me in the closet. I welcomed him in with open arms and a scared face, not telling him what happened but just glad that he was here. The little puppy curled up in my lap and gently licked my arms, letting me know that it was okay. I gave him a soft hug and settled myself against the wall of the closet without making any noise.

Since my mind was wondering off on other things, I didn't notice the approaching footsteps in front of the closet doors. They swung open with a fast "swoosh!" and there stood Beckendorf, his dark silhouette smelling of coffee beans again.

"Hi." He said calmly.

"Hello." I returned the greeting.

"Mind if I step in?" he asked.

I shrugged. "You still would even if I said yes."

Beckendorf tilted his head and smiled, an expression I would've been afraid if not for Eclipse growling at the boy.

"Hush Eclipse," I petted the back of his neck. _It's only a lost boy looking for his way out. _

Beckendorf's smile vanished and he closed the door behind him, darkness blanketing us three. With a small fuss the boy settled himself in front of me, comfortable with my presence apparently. I recoiled from within his arms reach.

"What do you want?" I hissed. "Are you going to chock me just like your bother did back there?"

Beckendorf scoffed and lit a candle, the light penetrating off of his sturdy features. "No." He said. "Justin's just worried about Silena, that's all. She and her father were the only family he had after his mother died."

Without taking my gaze off of the boy, I steadily leaned forward and blew out the candle between us. I liked the darkness better when I could use it to my advantage. "But it wasn't necessary to bang me up against a wall and then cut off my oxygen you know. In my country if you did that to a girl of my age then you would face years in prison." (Okay, I admit, I lied. But I only said that with a heavy British accent to scare Beckendorf. Plus I wasn't even so sure if I could trust him anymore.)

"He says he's sorry." Through the darkness I could see Beckendorf's face a little pissed from me putting out his candle. "Justin really means it to, "I over exaggerated" I quote. He just can't say it to you now because he left."

"To where? Heaven?"

"No. To Silena's Dad's chocolate shop. It's all the way in the Queens and he hasn't seen her ever since he ran away. And seeing that you had a weapon of Silena's… Justin just wanted to make sure that she was okay."

I rolled my eyes and felt a tension heating up here. "Yeah but what if Justin doesn't come back?"

Beckendorf jumped to his feet in anger but I still didn't move a muscle. It was Eclipse's warning growl that set the boy back to his spot on the floor. I could still see the madness in his eyes though when he heaved in every breath with a struggle of staying calm.

"Justin wouldn't leave us." He said. "He's promised us that he would be here until we all left him first. And we all know that's not going to happen."

Again I leaned forward and with the most chilling voice I could make, I said: "Did Justin swear on the River Styx that he wouldn't leave you guys? Or was it just a plain promise that could be forgotten about at any day or night? You tell me."

"You already knew you were a half blood didn't you?" Beckendorf spat. "Talking all about the River Styx and making oaths about ourselves. You already knew all about this world and everything huh?"

It was my turn to get defensive. "No. I've just already had my share of Greek mythology and everything within the stories. I just needed for you guys to explain all of these weird things that happen to me."

"So that's it then?" Beckendorf asked. "You only used us for information? Not for anything else like family and protection?"

I sighed loudly. "No. I still think you guys are great people. I just don't think that Justin is too good of a leader."

"Look Selene." Beckendorf's voice got serious and chilling. Already now the heated tension was burning a flame. "Justin may not be a good role model or whatever, but we all still owe him. He took us in, gave us food, let us know that we were safe. If he hadn't done that then I would still be lying out cold in the middle of Times Square just waiting for my Mama to be alive and safe. Lee, Ethan, and Chris would still be out on the streets with no one to take care of them while they puff out smoke and get high on the liquor. And you know that if it wasn't for Justin, then Lucas would've never been sent out on New Year's Eve to save you that night from the Cyclopes. Face it Selene. You may not trust Justin, but _we still do_."

An echoed silence filled the closet room, I found myself quiet and still for remembering that Beckendorf couldn't see in the dark.

"Do you doubt him?" I asked.

"What?"

"Do you doubt him?" I said even harsher. "Do you doubt that Justin will forever be here by your side while the five of you scavenge for food in this kind of world? Do you doubt that when your fifteen and he's twenty he'll still be here holding your hand and not having sex with some stranger? Do you doubt that or not?"

Amazingly Beckendorf was silent for a moment of hesitation. Even in this black darkness he wouldn't say a single thing but even with that, I still knew the answer:

Yes. He does doubt Justin.

I sighed and knew that I was being too harsh with this boy. He was barely two years older than me and we were both still kids... Just ones that had to suffer in the price of being a half blood.

"Look Beckendorf," I said smoothly. "I didn't mean to be so cross about this but it's just the truth. I would honestly prefer it this way instead of getting even more hurt in the end when reality does settle in; and we both know that none of us want to feel such miserable pain."

"Just…" he sniffled. Ruggedly Bloodity! I had made Beckendorf tear up... "I just… I want a family who I can trust. A family who… who w-won't leave me..."

On cue Eclipse walked out of my lap to let me crawl closer to the boy. Gently lighting a candle and taking Beckendorf's hand, I whispered, "I know. And I want that too. But sometimes we have to be cautious and patient. Even if it takes years beyond repair because you fell into the crutches of deceiving and wanted trust. Sure enough believe me brother, I know."

Beckendorf gulped down a cry and wiped away a tear with his free hand. He nodded in the candle light and gave me a hug, me returning it without regret.

_Mum, Dad, if you're out there… _

_Then give me a sign. _

The candle mysteriously went out while nobody had touched it. Absently I hugged Beckendorf tighter while he sobbed on my shoulder.

"I just want a family…" he cried.

**Author's Note: OMG I just love this part of the chapter because of how Beckendorf not only speaks up for someone he cares about, but also gets a little teary on his deepest wants! And also the way the candle mysteriously went out... Whataya think about that? Review now before going on to the next part! Sorry just wanted to say that but I'm going to write more on this chapter because I feel that they're a little short and also IDK if there's a limit on how chapters there can be in a single story. So… **

**Time Lapse! **

The next day was a little quiet, but I didn't care. I spent my whole morning listening to the Mp3 that Angela delivered to me. (I found out that its Solar Powered. So if that little icon on the corner of its screen goes empty, I could just stick it under a patch of sunlight to recharge its battery! Splendid huh?)

I was just sitting in a corner in of the apartment listening to the soft music when Lee came up to me. Hand held out he asked, "Can you help me with some song lyrics?"

I shrugged but hesitantly said yes, slowly trying to ease the tension from all around. Lee led me over to the middle of the apartment and showed me some music sheets, the familiar black lines and dots catching my attention.

"I'm trying to write some song lyrics to this music," he said. "I'm having a hard time and need your help. Do you think you could just sing something while I hum the tune?"

I was a little shaky at the singing part but said yes anyway. I trusted myself to have a good enough voice. I think.

"Alright so here it goes…" Lee tapped his foot, patted his thighs, and hummed a rhythm in his throat. Looking down at my copy of the music, I skimmed it over quickly and got a couple ideas.

Taking a deep breath and staying calm, I spoke out:

"_Sometimes we fall down and can't get back up  
we're hiding behind skin that's too tough"_

Hmm I wonder were that lyric came from: _moi_! _  
_

"_How come we don't say "I love you" enough  
Till it's too late… it's not too late."  
_

_Our hearts are hungry for a food that won't come  
we could make a feast from these crumbs  
and we're all staring down the barrel of a gun."_

I sure had my fair share of guns…_  
_

"_So if your life flashed before you, what would you wish you would've done?"_

I wish I could've never let my parents abandon me. __

I figured this part was going to the song's chorus:_  
"Yeah, gotta start  
Looking at the hands of the time we've been given here  
This is all we got and we gotta start thinking' it  
Every second counts on a clock that's ticking'  
Gotta live like we're dying  
_

_We only got 86 400 seconds in a day  
To turn it all around or to throw it all away  
We gotta tell 'em that we love 'em while we got the chance to say,  
Gotta live like we're dying_

And if your plane fell out of the skies  
Who would you call with your last goodbyes?  
Should be so careful who we left out of our lives  
so when we long for absolution, there'll be no one on the line."

Justin will be. __

"Yeah, gotta start  
looking at the hands of the time we've been given here  
this is all we got and we gotta start thinkin' it  
every second counts on a clock that's tickin'  
gotta live like we're dying  


_We only got 86 400 seconds in a day  
to turn it all around or to throw it all away  
we gotta tell 'em that we love 'em while we got the chance to say,  
Gotta live like we're dying."  
_

Okay, I need some more chorus stuff to add for the effect:_  
_

"_Like we're dying  
Oh, like we're dying  
Like we're dying  
Oh, like we're dying_

We only got 86 400 seconds in a day  
To turn it all around or to throw it all away  
We gotta tell 'em that we love 'em while we got the chance to say,  
Gotta live like we're dying."

Oh my gods here comes the hard part of the song. Thinking it over quickly and keep my voice even, I sang what was itching to creep out:_  
_

"_You never know a good thing until it's gone.  
You never see a crash until it's head on.  
All these people right when we're dead wrong.  
You never know a good thing till it's gone!_

Yeah, gotta start…  
Looking at the hands of the time we've been given here  
this is all we got and we gotta start thinkin' it  
every second counts on a clock that's tickin'  
gotta live like we're dying  


_We only got 86 400 seconds in a day  
To turn it all around or to throw it all away  
We gotta tell 'em that we love 'em while we got the chance to say,  
Gotta live like we're dying_

Like we're dying  
Oh, like we're dying  
Like we're dying  
Oh, like we're dying

We only got 86 400 seconds in a day  
To turn it all around or to throw it all away  
We gotta tell 'em that we love 'em while we got the chance to say,  
Gotta live like we're dying…."

I ended that last note mournfully; sad that I was done singing but still glad I could let some things out. Not noticing that I had them closed, I slowly opened my eyes to see the whole group of boys around me. Lucas and Lee in the front, Chris and Ethan a little off to the area behind me, and Beckendorf silently hiding behind the wall that leads to the bathroom. I looked down at my feet to feel Eclipse nudging my shin, scarce white hairs clinging on to the wool of my jeans.

"Uh… hi." I said. Gods I feel so awkward when people stared at me like that.

"Okay ether the Sirens have crashed into our home, or I'm still asleep and dreaming." Ethan shook his head roughly, Chris giving him a soft banging of the head

"Ow!" he rubbed the back of his head just when Lucas interrupted with slightly wide and open eyes.

"Did you just like… barely come up with that? All of those lyrics and everything?"

I nodded.

"And also you can sing." It wasn't a question.

I shrugged.

Lucas averted his gaze from mine and glimpsed above my head, waiting for a symbol that would never come.

"What?" I said. "Is a piece of my hair sticking up in an unfashionable way?"

"What? No!" Lucas shook his head and rubbed his nose, looking uncertain as his face turned a bright pink.

"Then why did you-"

I had no chance to finish my sentence because soon enough, Justin crashed into the room. He was exhausted and breathing heavily, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead as he climbed into the apartment from being away for half a day.

Only this time Justin had a bloody boy clinging to his side, the pool of red spilling down from the boy's chin onto his chest. I crept away in fright before had Chris blurted:

"MALCOLM!"

**Author's Note: *****grins evilly.* Review please! What do you think will happen now that Malcolm's come along in the story? What about the relationship between Beckendorf and Justin and Selene? Or what about Lucas? Do you think I should try a point of view of someone else? Oh and while at it, you can check out my Facebook (Emmarina Aniramme) to see the picture of Justin and Silena from the last chapter. **

**P.S….**

**I NEED A BETA READER! MY GRAMMMER SUCKS HERE! **


	20. Holy Cheese!

**Author's note: I am sooooo sorry that I forgot to mention that the song from the last chapter doesn't belong to me! It's called Live Like we're Dying by Kris Allen and I absolutely do not own it! The only things I own here are the plots used and a couple of the characters. And again, somebody PLEASE be my beta-reader! I'm desperate here **

Holy Cheese! Holy Cheese! Holy Cheese!

Red, bloody boy limping into the apartment with Justin.

Holy Cheese! Holy Cheese! Holy Cheese!

He's moaning as Chris and Lee put him into the floor in the middle of the room.

Holy Cheese! Holy Cheese! Holy Cheese!

He's freaking bleeding out his upper neck and breathing like an asthmatic!

Holy Cheese! Holy Cheese! Holy Cheese!

_What do I do?_

"Get some nectar and ambrosia!" Lee shouted. He ripped of his own shirt and used it push the blood back inside Malcolm. "Selene!" he called.

I whimpered but still hustled up to him. "Y-yes doctor?"

He shook his head at the doctor part but still gave me orders. "In the other room, the one with all the boxes and supplies, there are bandages and other first aid stuff. I need you to find them and get them to me quick!"

"Yes doctor!" my mouth repeated. I rushed to the hallway and toward the storage room, picking all the way through cardboard boxes for the medical stuff. "Holy cheese, holy cheese, holy cheese…" I kept on muttering. "Holy cheeses where's something when you need it?"

Eclipse ran into the room and barked like crazy, his body a flash of white as he gained speed and hurled himself into a random storage bin. Coming back out alive he pulled out a big white box with a flashing red plus sign on the front: A First Aid Kit.

I gave Eclipse a quick thank you and dashed back to the boys, all of them in a frantic as they tried to help Malcolm.

"Hand me some ambrosia!" Lee shouted.

"Somebody! The nectar!" Justin hollered.

"Selene where's the-"

"Here!" I handed Lee the sheet white box and took a quick glance at Malcolm, the stranger lying down on the floor in the middle of the chaos.

He was motionless with closed eyes and blood stained yellow hair, that huge gasping wound on his neck scaring me. Justin was looking over the boy with a worried face and trying to get him to drink this nectar stuff. Lee was on the other side trying to bandage up the wound with as much care as he can.

I looked away from the bloody sight and stood in a corner of the room, Eclipse loyally by my side. "What happened to him?" I asked nobody in particular.

"Got attacked by a couple of harpies in Times Square." Justin said. He wouldn't look me in the eyes. "I would've been dead if Malcolm hadn't killed them and saved my life."

I nodded and watched as Malcolm's breathing went a little rasp; in reply Justin checked the boys pulse and heartbeat.

"How is he?" Ethan asked. He looked as shaken as I was.

"Almost out." Justin's voice was barely a whisper. He gazed up from the patient and looked at Lee, their eyes having a one second conversation.

Lee screamed after a split second.

"What would you need me for?" I didn't move from my spot. Malcolm's blood was starting to gush on to the carpeted floor.

"You've shown to have talents of Apollo!" he had practically screamed at me. "We have to heal Malcolm all together using his power! Get over here now Selene or else Malcolm will die if we don't try praying to Apollo!"

I didn't need to be told twice; especially when Lee was looking downright dangerous and angry. I stepped toward them and let them grab my hands, not so sure on what to do. Together the three of us, Justin included, formed a semi-circle around Malcolm's head and closed our eyes.

I wasn't so sure what to say when you prayed to a Greek god for help.

_Heal Malcolm please your majesty. Heal him all the way because I honestly just don't want to see that wound on him…. Uh, please and thank you you're… lord. _

"It's working!" I heard Ethan exclaim.

I didn't dare to open my eyes but I could feel the room growing warmer. Sunlight must've been coming into the room and dancing on my skin because under dark eyelids, the blackness was becoming red; like when you close your eyes and look in the direction of the sun.

"Please Apollo…" I could hear Justin murmur. "Let Malcolm live. I swear I'll sacrifice my whole meal to you if I ever go to Camp again. Just heal Malcolm..." The fifteen-year-olds hand tightened around mine and I gave him a squeeze back, some sort of silent apology from yesterday going between us.

"S'il vous plaît père." I whispered out loud. It was French for: "Please father."

The sunlight from who knows where was coming even more now, I could smell lemonade in the air and I figured that it was Lee's scent becoming stronger. I gave in a bigger breath and detected mangos… Justin's unmistakable scent.

_Helia Neoma. _

A shiver went through me. That voice wasn't mine. It wasn't Eclipse's ether. It was… It was a man's. The one that I had heard back from the plane ride with Angela when I first came to the States **(check out Chapter four if you don't remember)**.

_Helia… my dear Helia… _It said. _Why are you praying to me? Why are you not praying to your mother instead? _

I wanted to bolt in a scream: "BECAUSE I DON'T KNOW WHO THE HELL MY MOTHER IS!" but I stayed as calm as I could. I took in a deep breath and tasted Justin's and Lee's strong smells… with them just mixed together I felt stronger.

_Because father… y-you have to heal Malcolm… You have to make sure he lives. You absolutely have to... Please Father. _

There was silence for a moment as I held my breath for one second.

_Helia, my darling, I'm sorry but… But I'm not your Father. _

And just like that all of the sunlight in the room disappeared and we were all left with a coughing, crying, and conscious Malcolm.

"Holy cheeses." I said one last time.

**Author's Note: I am so sorry to all of you who though that Apollo was Selene's Dad! I hate to break it to you, but it's not true. Apollo and Selene are not **_**directly related**_** as father and daughter. **

** Onward with more of the chapter because I feel that it's too short and I don't know if there's a limit on how many chapters you can have per story: **

Together the three of us collapsed to the floor, Justin's, Lee's, and I's knees too weak to hold us up anymore. We all crashed beside ourselves but I could still hear Malcolm crying a few feet away, scaried of why there was so much blood on him.

"We'll take it from here." Chris offered.

Together with his and Beckendorf's strong arms, they carried Malcolm into a different part of the apartment to treat the poor boy. Ethan and Lucas followed them but I could still detect Lucas's cinnamon scent lingering around the corner of the hallway. I didn't give a cheese though. I was so tired and drained of power…

"It's normal." Lee's voice was rasp as the three of us lay on the ground by a puddle of blood. "Being so tired… It always feels like this whenever we have to pray to Apollo for cures. Its part of the deal: He saves a life… But takes some of our … Strength."

"Does Apollo…" I paused to get some more air. "Talk to you guys? Like… Do you actually hear him… say words… in your… mind?"

They shook their heads put I could sense their alertness.

"Why?" Justin breathed. "Did Apollo... Talk to you?"

I nodded and told them about the small conversation I had with the god. I was completely out of oxygen when I said, "he told me he's not my dad."

The place was silent as both boys looked at me. I kept my gaze up on the ceiling since I was lying on my back. "Oh man I'm sorry Selene." Lee breathed. "we thought that he was your dad… and that you were our half sister."

I shook my head and could feel my eyes getting a little teary. "No. My Dad's dead. I know that for sure because he would've come back for me if he'd lived." Would he have really? My mother had sent me off alone at sea for a month… could my dad have really rescued me from coming into Europe and becoming an orphan?

"But you have his gifts…" Justin murmured. "Selene, you have Apollo's powers and talents. How could you not be his half blood?"

I didn't care enough to wipe away the tear that came running down my face past my ear. "I don't know. I mean… I can sing, look directly at sunlight, and see perfectly well enough in the darkness… how could I not have been his daughter?"

"You can see in the dark?" Justin asked.

I nodded. "The only real darkness I see is when I close my eyes and try to fall asleep. But when the lights go off and the sun sets… everything is just the same in my eyes."

Lee gave a heavy sigh but didn't make a move to get off the floor. "No child of Apollo I know can be able to see in the dark."

"Great." I muttered. "Even in the Olympian world I'm a freak."

"No Selene," Justin said, "it means that there's a chance that somebody else is your godly parent."

"Double great: Just another immortal being out there who left me when I was three years old."

"Do you have any other powers Selene?" Lee asked.

Lucas's scent got even stronger. I could just imagine him coming closer to hear what I would say.

"Yes." I said loud enough. Eclipse's ears perked up and he walked over to me, that soft fuzzy white head resting on my belly now. _Forgive me for giving away our little secret. _"I can talk to Eclipse telepathically."

"You can talk to dogs in your mind?" Lee asked. By now we had all regained our breath.

I shrugged and Eclipse's wet nose came to mine, immediately I knew what I had to say. But how I didn't notice it myself before, I felt ashamed for not paying attention to it until now.

"Oh really Eclipse isn't a dog…" I whispered. "He's actually a pure breed wolf."

**Author's Note: did you guys see that one coming? **

** Again, check out my author Facebook profile to see a picture of Justin and Silena. It's Emmarina Aniramme and has the profile picture of a blue fairy girl. Curious but tell me if you check it out! Also I wonder if any of my readers are boys. Can you review and tell me? **

**BETA NEEDED! **


	21. Apollo, Am I Alone or Not?

I spent the rest of the day hiding in a tiny corner where the kitchen's food closet was supposed to be. I had my school bag on my lap and Eclipse by my side; that little wolf puppy snoring quietly. He had told me earlier that he was now going to sleep during the day so that he could watch over me during the night.

_Since, you know. That nightmare Ethan had that you told me about… _

I nodded to my wolf and let him snooze peacefully. Eclipse had been talking about the dream Ethan had a few nights ago. The one about seeing Eclipse and I in a streaming fire.

"Are you absolutely sure that it was me and not some other girl?" I had asked Ethan earlier. "Because most girls can have auburn hair just like mine."

"Yeah but gold and silver eyes like yours?" He asked.

I recoiled slightly. "My eyes aren't gold and silver. They're yellow and gray."

Ethan rolled his eyes playfully but didn't push it. "Just be careful around fire okay? I saw you and Eclipse out on the fire escape in my dream, the whole apartment in flames behind you guys. I don't want that to happen you know."

"None of us do." I said. "But okay, I'll be careful around fire."

"Promise?" the black haired boy held out his left pinky.

Smiling I intertwined it with my own left pinky. "I promise."

"Good." He gave one of those goofy grins and walked out of the kitchen, an invisible weight gone from his shoulders.

I sighed miserably and turned my gaze back to my school bag. I had a feeling that there was something I had to look at in there.

_"Hey, hey," Angela came dashing over with her arms opened wide, "it's okay. Don't cry, we'll be okay. This new life isn't going to be so bad; we'll get a new family and plenty of friends. Isn't that what we've all been asking for?"_

_I sniffled and chocked out through my throat, "but th-the delivery, the l-letter…I c-can't read it."_

I pulled out that same piece of paper from my bag and thanked that I still had its envelope as well. It was one of the deliveries that Angela had first given me. She said that this very one had been from her father personally.

_"but th-the delivery, the l-letter…I c-can't read it."_

I pursed my lips together and stared down at it. Even with my dyslexia I could still tell that the words weren't English. Yet they had something to them. Something… Olympian like.

"_Angela what are you doing? Why are you standing so close to the edge? Get away from there, Angela. Angela!" _

_ The brown hair and blue eyed girl turned away from me and look down five stories to the ground. Police sirens were blazing everywhere down there and the snow was failing everybody's vision. But Angela didn't look bothered. She only had tears in her eyes and was just staring at the cold air. _

_ "I'm sorry." She whispered to the sky. _

_ Puppy dog looking Angela Morris didn't even look down before falling five stories to her death. She just went and didn't look back. _

I shook my head and focused again on the real world here at hand. I _had_ to let go of that memory. I couldn't keep on thinking about Angela. She had betrayed me; promised me a better life than committed suicide before I could even react.

"You promised Angela." I whispered. "You promised but you didn't care."

Maybe that was why I hadn't trusted Justin in the first place: because he could've been just like Angela.

_Let go. _That little nagging voice in my head said. _Let go and move on. _

Time Lapse.

I didn't know what I had to done until I was completely out of breath.

The landscape in front of me was New York. People as tiny as dots walking about in the cold January weather. Cars were honking and nobody looked up at me standing on the abandoned roof top, nobody probably even cared anyway. Snow was falling carelessly and my jacket was enough to keep me warm, but that didn't mean that my ears weren't turning red.

"Angela." I said out loud. Where ever she was I wondered if she could hear me. "Angela Morris."

Nothing. Only a gentle breeze coming to tickle my hair.

"Angela Morris, why did you leave? Why did you make that promise when you couldn't keep it? Why, Angela Morris?"

Another breeze came and caught itself in my hair. I wanted to wave it away.

Walking closer to the edge where she had exactly been standing, I said louder: "Messenger! Messenger Angela! Messenger Angela Morris! Why did you leave me! Why?" I was basically screaming at the sky now. "Why, Angela! Why did you leave me when you still had a promise to up hold! Why!"

A stronger cold wind came and knocked off my balance. I let out a shriek as I lost my footing and almost fell down five stories. A soft, strong hand caught my arm just when I was going to face Angela's same death. But I was left dangling over the side instead, staring straight up at the eyes of Lucas Cashier.

"Hold on!" he yelled.

I nodded and couldn't help glancing down at the ground. People were still walking around and going along. Though at the moment, five stories felt like five thousand stories. I gave out a shriek of fear just as Lucas's grip on my arm failed.

"AHHHH!"

"Maia!"He screamed.

I had only fallen about ten feet when Lucas plummeted down on his flying shoes and caught me bridal style. I landed with a thump in his arms and was breathing heavily. "oh my gods. Oh my gods. Oh my gods." I muttered.

"It's okay Selene, it's okay." He kept on saying. "I got you, don't worry. I got you."

The black haired boy willed for the shoes to carry us back to the building's roof top and away from ultimate death. I was clutching his torso when we landed softly and our faces were inches apart.

"It's okay Selene." He said again. White frost came out of his breath. "I got you."

I nodded and couldn't stop breathing heavily. I had almost died. Almost fallen to my death if Lucas hadn't saved me. I would've gotten Angela's same fate if he hadn't been there. But gods that was such… such a close call. Even for me. and that was saying something.

"Selene." Lucas hadn't let go of me yet; were we still in each other's arms on top the building. "Selene. Wh-what were you doing? Standing so close to the edge like that… are you crazy?"

"Has it finally shown now?" I watched as Lucas's blue eyes shook with fear; he was looking everywhere on my face but the eyes. "Has my mentality finally caught up with me?"

"Yeah." He looked away and I felt a misery when he let me go and I was now standing on my own two feet. "Mental or not though Selene, what were you doing? You would've died if I hadn't followed you."

"You followed me?"

Even in the white snow I could see his cheeks turn pink from a blush. "You're avoiding the question." He said quickly. "What were you doing?"

"I don't know." Really, it was the truth. "Not anymore I don't know."

He looked liked he wanted to be angry with me but instead the boy stood staring, nose to nose not taking his eyes away from mine now. "You're lucky to be living." We were so close together that I could hear his whispering. "You're so lucky to be living yet you don't act like it."

"What's to be living when you don't feel alive?"

He wouldn't answer that in words.

Lucas Cashier took me in his arms and hugged me, only for a split second before pulling away and staring at me again. His gaze wouldn't come back to my eyes anymore but I noticed that he kept on glancing at my lips. I knew what he wanted to do without needing anymore hints.

But I wasn't ready for it.

"I'm sorry." I tore away from his grasp and ran toward the building's entrance, going down the stairs two at a time.

_Apollo, _I prayed. _Even though I'm not your daughter, give me an answer. I need to know: _

_Am I alone in this world or not? _


	22. Its Not My Time Okay?

**Author's Note: the song used in this chapter is Not My Time by 3 Doors Down. I don't own anything in this story except for Eclipse, Selene, Justin, Lucas, and whatever else that is not Rick Riodan's. **

** Also special thanks to AlvaBlueFire for helping me with my story **** I own it to ya! **

** But now, onward! **

_Swash! Yield! Duck! _

Days have pasted ever since Malcolm came into the family. Justin let him in willingly when he explained his life situation.

_Swish! Swash! Duck! _

Turns out that Malcolm actually comes from a rich family of scientists who devoured the boy in luxuries and fancy toys. Though ever since his tenth birthday, Malcolm's family hasn't exactly been the same.

_Block! Lunge! Reverse! _

Malcolm got attacked by a hydra and he defeated it without any problem, but his family was left shaken by the monster. They no longer treated him the same for thinking that he had gone insane. Though the truth was that Malcolm had only just been entered into the Olympian world for the first time.

_Step! Kick! Push!_

So since Malcolm was no longer accepted by his family, he left them and went to the streets. Fighting monsters by day and blocking away nightmares by night. When he had saved Justin's life was the day that he was actually going to commit suicide.

_Yield!_

Only then Justin brought him into our family and gave him a home.

"You're getting better Selene." Malcolm pushed away the blade from his neck and stood up, his forehead beaded in sweat. "How about one more? Just for your old brother's sake okay?"

I rolled my eyes but firmed my grip on the sword again, my hand sweaty from hours of practicing. I let out a sigh into the icy cold air and didn't give a glance to the people down below.

"C'mon Selene we're only up three stories on another building's roof." Malcolm's grin was easy going. "Nobody's going to see us okay? So how about it? One more spare?"

I nodded and saw Eclipse out of the corner of my eye, my white timber wolf sitting proudly a few meters away. He had his gaze set on the brain child and I shivered slightly from the dagger glare he was giving off.

"Alright so remember," Malcolm's breath came out in white puffs throughout the winter air. "If a person lunges, you ether block it off or step back. And if they get close-"

"I know, I know." I lollygagged around and said, "If a person gets close to you, you kick them out in the trousers and try something else with your sword."

The son of Athena grinned wickedly, "I have trained you well my young grasshopper."

I grinned back and got in my position to strike. "We shall see if so Master."

_Bang! _

We both shot for each other, our borrowed swords clattering with celestial bronze on celestial bronze. We both swapped, blocked, side stepped, thrust, whenever it was the time to. I remember the whole time Malcolm's gray eyes were glowing bright from excitement and adrenaline. It only scared me slightly since 1. I was WAAAAAY worse at sword fighting then him, so easily he could kick my behind. And 2. I had Eclipse on my side to protect me just in case.

"Selene! Malcolm!" a person yelled from over the building.

We both stopped sparring and looked over the building's edge, finding a familiar black haired and brown eyed Hispanic yelling at us from ground level.

"Hi, Chris!" I shouted to him. "How's the weather down there?"

He flashed a smile and cocked his head to the side a little. "ha-ha, very funny Selene. Now get down here you guys, Beckendorf and Lucas wants their swords back."

"Aww…" Malcolm and I said at the same time.

We both called amends and together with Eclipse, the three of us headed down from the rooftop and on to the sidewalk toward our apartment. We met up with Chris farther along the way and just when things had just started to feet normal, two boys popped up from behind.

"Hey, you're that girl," the shorter one said. His blue eyes and shaggy brown hair seemed familiar. "The one with the wristwatch knife thingy… what was your name again? I don't think you ever told us."

I turned to look at them better with Malcolm and Chris by my sides, Eclipse down by my feet on all four paws.

"Selene," I said casually, "Selene Mays." I pronounced my name with such a heavy accent that I said it as SUH-lean-EE.

Both boys, identical except in height, nodded their heads and shook my right hand firmly.

"Connor." The short one said.

"Travis." The tall one said.

"We're the Stoll twins." They said in unison.

I tilted my head in a grin and introduced them to Malcolm and Eclipse, both of them excited to see Chris though.

"You' Rodriguez!" Travis did that thing with Chris were they slap hands in the air. "Can't believe you're here in New York dude! What're you even doing in this kind of dump huh? Shouldn't you be back at Camp?"

Chris shook his head solemnly and greeted Connor with just as much cheerfulness. "What're you guys doing here? I thought we agreed no monster hunting from now on."

"Oh hey it's not our fault we got stuck on the streets!" Connor held his hands up like in surrender. "We just thought that maybe someday we would see little _Selene_ here," he said my name with such a sudden interest, "somewhere in the city. So I guess today's our lucky day really."

"Well you've seen her now so let's go." Malcolm put a protective arm in front of me and ushered me far away from the Stoll brothers.

I let him guide me around until Travis shouted up, "hey, hey, now we don't mean to cause any harm what so ever! We just want to talk to Selene for a second!"

"About what?" I asked.

Travis and Connor's eyes glimpsed back and forth between me and my family. They were trying to tell me something.

"Um... In private please?" Connor asked.

I hesitated but shook my head and stood side by side with Chris and Malcolm. "Nope. What you say to my face can be said to my brothers."

Travis heaved a deep breath but let it go anyway. "Alright, well then." He glanced at his younger brother. "What we wanted to talk to you about was that day when we first saw you. The time when we were in front of a whole bunch of TVs and they were casting my brother and I. remember? They mentioned… they mentioned our mom, saying that we're suspects of killing her."

"Do you believe that we killed our mom?" Connor asked.

I was taken back a bit but I didn't trust myself to show it. "No, of course not. You're not that much of a battered cabbage."

"Thanks. Wait, what?" they said at the same time.

I laughed and translated my London slang, only this time my accent just as heavy. "I mean, that however stupid you boys seem to be, I don't believe that you two are murderers."

They both let out breaths of relief right when Eclipse gave a low growl. We all glimpsed down at him and saw that he was growling at the brothers. Wait, no, not at the Stolls. Eclipse was growling at what was behind them.

"Hey we're not dangerous or anything!" Connor stepped back from my wolf pup but stumbled into an old man with a bowler hat instead.

"Oops, sorry sir." Connor brushed him off and retreated back to our range, the man with the hat growling at Eclipse back.

"What the-?"

"HIT THE DECK!" Malcolm pushed us to the ground just as he brought out his training sword. I hit the sidewalk with a thud when I heard a "_swoosh!"_ and there was an explosion of golden dust everywhere.

"What was that?" I looked up from being flat on the ground and at Malcolm, his front side covered in yellow. "What the hell!"

"It was a monster." Malcolm's voice was calm but he was still alert, little Eclipse at his heels as well. "The man; he was about to attack if Eclipse hadn't detected him. Lucky us."

"Yeah but not right now. Look!" I pointed toward the street a few blocks down and at another man in a bowler hat, only I actually noticed the unusual height in this one.

"It's a Cyclopes." Chris explained. He was just about getting off the ground and picking up the sword I was using earlier. "And he's going straight for us."

"Alright then let's go, let's go!"

The Stoll brothers helped themselves off the ground while I had to use Malcolm's hand to get off the concrete. I felt so shaky since Cyclopes were the first monster I had even encountered. I wasn't sure what to do about it without Lucas here to save my life. I gave a sad look to my brothers as the six of us ran down the street with Eclipse on the rear, his barks getting louder whenever the monster came closer.

"We can't lead it toward the apartment." Malcolm said to Chris. "We have to direct it to somewhere else. Someplace where we could kill it."

"We know just the place!" Travis and Connor said together. They took the lead in our group and guided us a few blocks down, only before Eclipse's barks got increasingly loud.

_There are four Cyclopes now! _Eclipse yelled in my mind. _Some of them are gaining quickly. We have to lose them. Now Selene now! _

I hesitated because I was weaponless; only two people out of the six of us had something to defend themselves with. And with four monsters on our tail, how could we all take them when I've only had just two weeks of training?

"Just right around this corner!" the Stoll brothers herded us into a tiny park, one that was caged in by metal chain walls. It was deserted and the fence was easily climbable, strong too. I just didn't know if it was stronger than the Cyclops's muscle.

"We'll bring the monsters in here and kill them off one by one!" Malcolm directed us as we stopped by the entrance. "Who's a good climber here?"

Automatically I volunteered for the suicide mission.

"Alright Selene," Malcolm handed me his sword and I strapped it to my side quickly. "Lead the monsters into the cage while the rest of us will be around the perimeter shooting them or whatever. Can you climb the metal fence to the other side once you get them all inside?"

It was a risky decision but ADHD made me say yes at once. "I'll do my best little china." I patted him on the shoulder and heaved back a little, letting the monsters catch sight of me.

"You can't do it Selene!" Chris yelled. He tried to pull me toward him to safety. "You can't risk your life like that! I won't let you!"

I whisked away from his grip and pushed Chris out of the sight from the monsters. "I don't care Chris! I have to save you guys!"

"It's my job to the life saving not yours!" he tried to run back to me but Eclipse got in his way, growling up at the boy with wicked sharp, yellow teeth. He barked a mighty roar and snapped at the boy's heels, saliva dripping from his snout.

"Nice doggy." Chris didn't let his gaze escape my pet before he took off toward the others, a new found of respect for Eclipse in me.

_Looking back at the beginning of this  
and how life was…_

"Get ready Selene!" Malcolm yelled from somewhere. "They're almost here!"

_Just you and me loving all of our friends  
Living life like an ocean…_

The Cyclopes gained on me and snarled through their noses, hurling for me just as my swift body ran toward the inside of the empty park. I could hear (and very much feel as well) their feet pounding on the ground, unevening my running as I got deeper in the fenced in park.

_But now the current's only pulling me down_

I reached the back fence wall just as they all came inside, Malcolm and Connor closing the gate behind them. I was already breathing heavily and starting to climb up the fence when I heard Chris yell, "WATCH OUT!"

_It's getting harder too breathe…_

I didn't have to time to wonder what was going on because a powerful hand crushed my body up against the metal fence, a few ribs being crushed again and my body's air gone. I fell back against the ground with an even more painful thud and tears were stinging in my eyes._  
It won't be too long and I will be going under  
Can you save me from this?  
_I made the mistake of screaming out and not reaching for my sword. From the distance I heard a loud bark and a flash of white came to my aid._  
_

_Cause it's not my time I'm not going  
there's a fear in me… it's not showing  
this could be the end of me  
and everything I know  
Oh but I won't go…  
_

It was my loyal Eclipse, standing in front of my broken body and barking at the monsters. Even though he was tiny and the Cyclopes were about ten feet tall, they hesitated a bit before coming at us now. But that's when the pressure came in and I knew that I wasn't at all safe. Even if my protector was a mighty wolf. _  
_

_I look ahead to all the plans that we made  
and the dreams that we had_

I could never find out who my parents really are if I die here. _  
_

_I'm in a world that tries to take them away  
Oh but I'm taking them back._

I toughed it out and sat up slowly, bracing myself for any more attacks. Eclipse's barks came louder in my ears but I ignored them, my damaged body from the crushing was my first priority. _  
_

_Cause all of this time I've just been too blind to understand  
what should matter to me_

Eclipse. Malcolm. Chris. Lucas… _  
My friends this life we live, it's not what we have_. _  
It's what we believe in_

Cause it's not my time I'm not going

Eclipse let out a bigger, much stronger, bark, one that sent a dome like vibration away from us. _  
There's a fear in me but it's not showing_

All the monsters backed away immediately, their one eyed heads confused from such a powerful force. _  
_

_This could be the end of me  
and everything I know_

I started crying harder and trying to stand up when my hand feel across my side, the place where I had Lucas's sword. My feet obeyed my command and Eclipse gave more barks, scary ones that reminded me of chronic music speakers at parties. They made the whole ground sway and my ears ring, something I never knew that Eclipse could do with just the power of his vocal cords.

_But it's not my time I'm not going  
There's a will in me and now I know that  
This could be the end of me  
And everything I know  
Oh but I won't go  
I won't go_

I winced and grunted in pain as I got in position, sword in my hand at ready. There was a fiery burning in my ribs and torso but I didn't choose to show it. I gave a silent prayer to Apollo before taking one step forward and into battle with a dozen Cyclopes. __

There might be more than you believe  
(There might be more than you believe)  
There might be more than you can see…  


Out of nowhere, Lucas, Connor, Malcolm, Chris, Travis and just about the whole gang swept themselves within the metal chain walls and into the arena. They all yelled an usual battle cry and clanged whatever weapons they had on to the Cyclopes, Eclipse staying by my side to single handedly kill the one monster coming toward me. _  
_

_But it's not my time I'm not going_

Don't even consider it. _  
There's a fear in me it's not showing_

Not anymore it's not. _  
This could be the end of me  
and everything I know  
but it's not my time_

Never is it going to be.

_I'm not going  
There's a will in me and now it's gonna show  
This could be the end of me  
And everything I know  
Oh…_

There might be more than you believe  
(There might be more than you believe)  
There might be more than you can see…  


After the last monster had disinegrated into dust, the majority of us demi gods fell to our knees and gasped for air. _  
But I won't go_

I pointed Lucas's sword to the ground and used it to keep me up from falling down completely. Breathing heavily and glancing at my wolf pup, I let him see my relieved grin. _  
_

_No, I won't go down  
Yeah..._

**Author's Note: if you listened to the song while reading it, it might've been a little hard but if you replay the scene it your head, its wicked cool cause its like a music video gone half blood version. Lol you can check out my Facebook ( Emmarina Aniramme) to see a picture of Eclipse. And free cookies to the people who review this! I want to make it to maybe 50 or so reviews **


	23. Would You Like Some Fries with That?

I can't remember much after all of those Cyclopes attacked.

The best I can remember is feeling dead as Chris carried me back to the apartment. "Hold on sis," he kept on saying. "We're almost there. Stay with me now. Don't close your eyes." I would've let out a moan if not for such pain I was in.

There was a pounding on a certain door as Malcolm yelled, "Justin! Lucas! Somebody! Open up! Emergency here!"

I could hear metal trinkets hitting against each other and a door being opened, Lucas's exasperated voice ringing in my ears. "Holy sacred cows what were you guys doing out there?"

Malcolm's winces coming to my ears as he said "attracted a couple of monsters out there. Selene got crushed by a heavy force before we all went in to help her. But already that girl got tough and fought alongside us, even if it's costing half her life."

A short carried silence as I was bought inside the apartment, the familiar scents of Pepsi and Coke coming to my scenes. Travis? Connor? What were they doing here? They-

"Alright, now Selene," a nice, soft, lemonade aroma came to my nose. Lee. "Stay with me girl. Don't fall asleep now you hear me? C'mon Selene, don't close your eyes." I felt a gentle pat on my cheek as something wet came out of my mouth. Was it blood? "Hey, Justin. I need you here man."

Shuffling of feet as a mango perfume came across me. Was it Justin? He always seemed to smell of mangos…

"Alright now sis, I'll need to stay awake for me okay? Here, rinse your mouth with this." A bottle of water came to my mouth as I nearly chocked it back out, an empty bucket already waiting to catch the used water.

What the-?

The only thing I could see were two blurry forms hovering above me, both of them having blue eyes and blond hair. The forms had Justin's and Lee's voices, their scents too, but where was Ethan? And Beckendorf? And "Lucas?"

"I'm right here Selene, don't worry. I got you." An explosion of cinnamon wafted into my nose, a soft warm hand coving my own. It was Lucas surely, it had to be. Who else would come to my aid in a time like this?

There was a creasing of more murmurings as Justin and Lee discussed what to do while handling the little things: my scared arms, bruised legs, blood gushing mouth. I was ready to pass out completely if not for my family telling me to stay awake.

"Eclipse." I moaned. "Eclipse… where are you lad? E-" I coughed out a pool of blood, rolling over to my side to let liquid get out better. Justin immediately put a bucket under my mouth to let the blood fall into, my throat burning from my stomach's acid.

"Help." I gave out a painful cough. "Me." I pushed my stomach muscles to help get the liquid out of my system. "Please." I gave a loud cry as my throat burned with agony.

"You're okay Selene, you're okay." Justin tucked my hair behind my ears and patted my back as I vomited up more and more claret (London slang for blood). "Keep on going, let it all out now."

I gave another miserable cry as a new dose of liquid came running out my cakehole and nose. "I can't," I choked up some more, "go on," a handful of it started running down my chin, "any." I let out one more breath, "longer."

Darkness came to swallow me up just when I heard Eclipse give a childish whimper. _Don't die Selene. _

_ Please. _

(Time Lapse.)

3rd Person Point of View:

After Selene had passed out, Justin and Lee did their best to clean up the blood and set her comfortably to sleep. They wiped the red mess from her chin and front side, changing her clothes to let go of the sticky muck from her body.

"How did all of this happen?" Lee asked after a while. Out of habit he looked at Chris for answers. "How many monsters were out there?"

"About a dozen of the one eyed freaks," Chris answered. He took Selene's dirty clothes in his arms and put them in a white plastic bag. _I don't think she'll ever want to wear these again. _"Our plan was to trap the monsters inside this park and pick them off one by one, but they got to Selene before she could get to us."

From halfway across the room, Beckendorf nodded as he draped a wool blanket over Selene's sleeping body. "Must've been hard for her." He said out loud. "One Eyed Freak was her first ever monster, I bet she was scared shitless."

Beside him Ethan nodded and picked up Eclipse, setting the white wolf gently beside his master. "How bad was the damage afterward?" he asked out of curiosity.

Chris shrugged as he tied a knot in the plastic bag. "Nothing much. No permanent damage to the landscape, and I'm not sure if any mortals saw or not."

Lee nodded as he absently picked up the bloody mess from the ground. He glanced at Justin when he asked the next question, "Do you think that we should take her to Camp?"

Everybody stopped frozen in what they were doing.

"Please tell me you're joking." Chris said. Nobody responded so he added on, "We can't go back to Camp. That's crazy talk!"

"But we're out on the streets," Beckendorf reasoned. "Wouldn't going back be for the better? For all of us?"

"But then we would never be able to leave," Justin added. He looked at all five boys, his first ever original members of the family. "We'd be year rounders, and even if we were allowed to leave, where would we go?"

"We could maybe just go for a couple of weeks," Ethan suggested. He tried to be reasonable since he had never been to Camp himself. "Maybe just try out the place. If it seems homey enough, then why leave? We could do whatever we want there and still have clean clothes and plenty of food."

"Yeah but we'd be like prisoners there." Chris argued. He leaned back against one of the walls, arms crossed in front of his chest. "We all know that year rounders at Camp don't get to go out and see the real world. They don't get to see if they're really good enough out there because we would never be aloud out of the borders."

"We could always try getting granted a quest," Lee thought.

Chris shot him a look. "A quest that might as well be a suicide mission? Forget it. I say we don't go back to Camp."

"I say we give it time." Justin spoke up. His voice sounded so confident and strong that everybody turned to look at him. "Wait until summer starts rolling around. If none of us are dead by then than we'll see if Camp is a good choice or not. Anybody object?"

Silence.

"Alright then," Justin let go of that leader trance that he was in and took the plastic bag from Chris. "I'll go out and throw this away myself." He offered.

Chris nodded and watched as the son of Apollo left the room, his wavy blond hair streaked with Selene's blood.

"You guys?"

Everybody turned their heads to see Malcolm, Lucas, Travis, and Connor perched outside the window, their bodies standing on the rickety fire escape.

"Chris?" Lucas glimpsed at him with wide blue eyes. "You're not going to let people die before we get to Camp right?"

Chris didn't know how to answer that. He glanced at his brother Lee for help but the boy was too busy cleaning up the red liquid. Figuring he was on his own, Chris told the boys to make room for Travis and Connor. They didn't give him any confused glances because Chris added, "the Stoll brothers are joining the family. No objections." And Chris left the room himself.

**Time Lapse. **

3rd Person Point of View:

Days went by ever since the monster attack. The family rarely ever talked about it, but there was still tension in the air as they all waited for the next attack or raid. Though the group of kids did their best to avoid feeling doomed and vulnerable. They trained each other to fight, steal, and survive as best they could.

Lee would teach about archery.

Malcolm would do the swordplay. 

Chris would take up hand to hand combat.

Justin took up the medical aid.

And Travis and Connor would give instructions about how to survive on the streets.

Eventually there were days when everybody forgot about teaching and only shared stories in the circle where they all ate food and lounged around. There was once a rare time when a person of the family would share their life story, telling about what was going before they ended up on the streets in this group of homeless kids.

"My mom was a drug addict." Lee randomly said one day. A mental hush fell over everyone. They all stopped in their tracks and looked at Lee, the boy's gaze up on the ceiling.

"My mom was a drug addict who didn't care about me," Lee's voice was refusing to show any weakness. "She would spend her money on heroine instead of food and never give me a second thought. I remember once I came home all bruised and bloody and she didn't care."

_I had walked through the house's front door, blood slowly dripping from my nose and the corners of my mouth. There was a musky scent in the building and I knew that Mom had been smoking her stuff. I limped over to the living room where she sat, that pipe going in and out of her mouth. Her dull blue eyes and ragged blond hair was a mess, nothing as lifeless as the look she gave me when Mom saw me beat up. _

_ "Leave me alone" was all she said. _

_ Unhappy, I limped away to my room. _

"Last year I went away for the summer though." Lee continued. He remembered the great time he had at Camp, seeing Annabeth's happy face and Luke's kind smile. "I didn't want to go back home to Mom but… but I knew I had to."

_There was a lonely feeling to the house as I walked in. garbage was littered across the whole floor, dust was piling up on surfaces, and spiders were crawling in every web there was. The smell of cocaine and cigarettes was stale but still there, lingering in the air as I wondered around the house. _

_ "Mom?" I called out. "It's me, your son Lee. Where are you Mom?" I crept into every room there was and was about to give up when I saw the bathroom door opened ajar. Bracing myself to go inside and see what was there, I never could regret saying that I was horrified. _

"I found my mom dead when I got home; laid out in the bathtub with her head still under the surface. She had a bottle of beer by her side and the ashtray was still full of her cigarette butts. People told me that she had already been dead for weeks when I found her; it's only just about time that her own mistakes caught up with her."

_"Is there any place you can stay from now on?" the Social Services lady asked a day later. "Any family that can take you in since your mother has now passed away?" _

_ I shook my head and told her that I had no relatives, but then the thought of staying at Camp caught itself in my head. "Wait yes ma'am. I know where I can stay." _

"I was about to go into some sort of orphanage when I thought about staying at a friend's strawberry farm." Lee figured that Selene shouldn't know about Camp. Not yet anyway. "The Social Services agreed and I was escorted all the way from Virginia to New York. But then…" 

Lee winced at the horrible memory, the screenplay of watching his escort die from the attack of a hydra. _"Help me…" she had whispered. "Please. Help me before I die…" _at only ten years old Lee had done nothing but watched the poor lady die in the claws of a blood hungry monster.

"My escort and I got attacked by a monster and she died in the process of defeating it, Justin coming to my aid just in time to defeat the monster though."

_"Step back!" Justin yelled. He had a set of bows and arrows aimed the hydra's body. He knocked five of his arrows in the bow and shouted, "THIS ONE'S FOR THE INNOCENT!" After the unleashed battle cry, his set of arrows killed the hydra within seconds. _

_ "That was wicked dude!" I had said to him. We both shook hands and punched knuckles when a glowing symbol appeared above my head. A glowing symbol claiming me of my birth parent. _

_ "Congratulations dude," Justin patted me on the back afterward. "You're an official son of Apollo now."_

"I was let into Justin's family then," Lee informed. He rolled around on his stomach and looked at Ethan, Beckendorf, Chris, and Justin. "I became his right hand man from then on."

There was total silence throughout the apartment as moonlight perched out from the window, illuminating Lee's features and giving him that ghostly appearance. He seemed gloomy and depressed when he said, "I like this family though. Better than my old one and here, I actually feel appreciated."

"Would you like fries with that?" Travis randomly said.

Everybody burst out laughing afterward.

**Author's Note: awkward chapter yes I know, but I love it because you see Lee's background story. Even if is a little sad. But hey, nobody said that the life of a half blood was easy. :/ **

** Anyway, let's give a shout out to my friend AlvaBlueFire for helping me with my story! ! :D lol **

** I do not own anything that is not mine and also, if you check out my Facebook you can see a picture of Lee and Angela and what I imagine them to look like. But anyway…**

** Reviews! Please! anyone got predictions on what's going to happen between the whole family as the summer gets closer? **


	24. Happy Birthday You Lil Rascal

Justin: _(walking in the front door of the apartment room after a morning of setting up water bags to heat up outside in the February sun.)_ "Hello? Anybody in here? I'm home!"

Malcolm: _(creeping behind the kitchen counter away from Justin's viewing range. Gives a small whistle.)_

Connor and Travis: _(responding with two low whistles from behind our only couch.)_

Chris: _(purposely starting to breathe heavily and loudly from his own hiding place.)_

Beckendorf and Ethan: _(running fingernails along walls in the next room then quickly hiding in the closet.)_

Lucas and Lee: _(making hissing noses like a snake from behind the bathtub in the bathroom.)_

Eclipse: _(growling loudly and hiding outside on the fire escape from where the main room's window is.)_

Justin: _(slowly bringing out his bow and arrows, notching one of them securing before moving in farther within the apartment.)_

Me: _(hidden under the floor boards and using a frantic voice)_ "Help! Help me somebody! Somebody help me! Somebody please help me!"

Justin: _(running around the apartment searching desperately)_ "Selene! Where are you Selene! Where are you girl?"

Me: _(trying not to show laughter in my high pitched cries)_ "Justin! Justin help me! Help me Justin!"

Justin: _(arrow still ready in bow)_ "where are you Selene? I can't find you!"

Eclipse: _(growls growing louder and a couple of barks here and there.)_

Beckendorf and Ethan: _(making pounding noises and hitting the walls with fists)_

Lee and Lucas: _(trying to get really loud in their hissing noises but failing with all of the other commotion going on.)_

Justin: "Selene! What's going on? Where are you?"

Me: "Justin! Help me! Help me, it's getting closer, its-" _(makes choking noises as Justin moves to the stop directly up above my spot on the floorboards.) _

Justin: "SELENE!"

Everybody except for Justin and me since he's standing right on top my hiding place under the floorboards: _(Jump out of their hiding places and scream out_) "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUSTIN!"

Time lapse.

Scene: _the whole family sitting in the living room of the apartment eating cupcakes (that I courteously bought using the money I from got selling Silena's jewelry); Travis and Connor sitting together side by side; Malcolm down on his stomach lazily chewing on a cupcake; Chris and Beckendorf loyally on Justin's two sides (all stuffing their faces with blue frosting); Ethan, Lee and Lucas debating on how they should split the rest of the left over cupcakes; and Eclipse and I absently laying on the ground with a full belly of sweets. _

"Ahhh, it's been a long time since I've ever felt this drunk on sweet food." I gave a lazy sigh while petting my wolf. "are there any cupcakes left?"

"Only two." Said Ethan; he shot a look at his companions; "Lee and Lucas are fighting over who should have the last ones."

"Well its Justin's birthday let the old lad decide!" I rolled over on my stomach and gazed at the birthday boy who had a blue frosting mustache.

"having a good time fella?" I asked him.

Justin nodded and wiped the rest of the frosting of his face. "though I gotta say, that trick you guys pulled on me was totally wack. I thought the place had been invaded by monsters or crooks or something. You guys really had me scared there thinking that you were all dead."

Connor and Travis secretly gave each other high fives. After all, it was _their _idea to scare the bijezzers out of Justin.

"Well we had to get your attention somehow." Beckendorf added. always the peace keeper he was to keep the blame game from coming along.

"Yeah," Lucas looked up from his debate with Lee, "you're always so busy Justin. It never seems that you have time for us anymore except when you're teaching. And even that doesn't feel very fair to us."

"Well sorry boys, and _girl," _Justin added after I gave him a glare, "but I got to take care of you guys. I can't let all the chores go undone while you guys learn how to sword fight and study your Ancient Greek."

"But how about this," Malcolm had finished his cupcake and was now staring at Justin earnestly; "we'll help you with the chores and junk if you give us some more time with you. Like coming to hear us sing or kick somebody's butt in swordplay. We all want to become as cool as you after all." Oh yeah, leave it to Malcolm to do the flattery talk. "So how about it bro'?"

Justin didn't have to consider it because he immediately said yes. "Alright then. Just one thing though."

"Yeah?" we all responded.

"I've been having this idea for a while and I think it's about time that we try it out." Quickly Justin told us his idea, all of us listening carefully to his instructions. I watched everyone as their faces went from thoughtful to doubting to excitement to mischievousness.

"Think it'll work?" Justin asked after a few minutes of explaining.

"It'll take some more careful planning," Malcolm suggested, "and maybe a couple of backup plans just in case but yeah, I think we could pull it through."

"Are you guys up for it though?" Lee asked. He looked a little uneasy at this idea.

"I AM!" Connor and Travis instantly stood up with their smiles raised wide. "Can we do it? Please? Please, please, please, please, please, please, please Justin? _Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?" _the Stoll brothers had gotten down on their knees and clasped their hands together, giving everybody those puppy dog eyes that not even Eclipse could pull off.

"Well we got to see if anybody objects first though." Justin gazed around the family, locking in on Ethan, Lucas, and me. Since we were the youngest and most vulnerable, we were easy targets for this idea. "Any comments you guys?"

Eclipse and I shifted uneasily in our spots, throwing glances at Beckendorf and Lee. They were the ones we trusted the most, so whatever they said was cool with us.

"I'm fine with it." Lucas said slowly. "Maybe could be just what we need to add a little excitement in this life. What about you Ethan?"

Everybody looked from the black haired blue eyed boy to the black haired brown eyed boy. Ethan was running his finger along the carpet floor, writing out Greek letters in his mind. "It sounds really fun, it honestly does." His voice was a little small but still strong. "Could we maybe go through with the plan for it more? Just to be sure before making the final decision?"

Everybody nodded then turned to Eclipse and I, my eyes must've been shaking with uncertainty. "I go with whatever Lee and Beckendorf say." I announced.

So immediately that put the choice to my most trusted brothers.

"I'll help in the plan," Beckendorf said cheerfully, "but I sure won't be the one putting it to work. Doing that kind of stuff isn't really my thing anyway."

"Lee?" I asked.

"I'm with Chris here," Lee gave the big Hispanic boy a pat on the back; "we go where Justin goes."

The fifteen year old, now turning sixteen on the next coming dawn, smiled gratefully and wrapped the idea all up. "Alright, so those who want to be a part of it will be, though the choice doesn't have to be final until the idea is totally complete on the plan. Anybody who wants to work on the planning should come and talk to me and together we'll work it out. Anything else I should say before we part?" he sounded like we were at some serious meeting in the Queen's palace.

I raised my hand like a tiny school girl.

"Yes Selene?"

I purposely made my voice sound babyish. "Can I hwave anawder cupcake pwease?"

Justin grinned and said yes, handing me one of the two left over cupcakes in the middle of us all.

I took it gingerly and ignored the envious glares the Lucas and Lee were giving me. Thinking that maybe I was being a little unfair, I ruffled Eclipse's fur and held the cupcake to his nose.

_Enjoy. _I whispered in his head.

Eclipse eagerly went out from his day dreaming trance and ate up the cupcake.

_Yum. _He said, licking my face in his frost smelling breath.

"okay," I announced. "I'm happy now."

**Happy Birthday Justin! Lol um Review and tell me what you think oof the little trick they all played on him! And what do you guys think is the idea or um, **_**plan **_**that Justin has? Lol **

**Let's give a shout out to AlvaBlueFire for helping me out! OH YEAH! Lol **


	25. Chris You're Gonna Go Far Kid

Alright so you remember that plan thing right? The little, uh, _idea _Justin told us about on his sixteenth birthday? Well, believe it or not, in less than a week we could put it into action. Thanks to Malcolm and Beckendorf though, if it wasn't for those two smartys we wouldn't have been so successful in this scheme.

"You guys ready?" Justin looked us all over, his eyes nervous yet excited.

We all nodded and hugged each of our bags, wearing scarves over half our faces and hats on everybody's head. Though just in case, Lucas, Lee, and Malcolm were wearing bracelets and female jackets to throw the people off about us. I snickered from under my black scarf at Lucas though; he looked surprisingly cute in girl clothes while carrying a large purse. Chris couldn't help noticing ether and we gave each other secret winks.

"Alright so Travis and Connor," the brothers stepped out from among the rest of us with heads held high and posture confident and strong, Justin beaming at them proudly. "Lead the way my boys." He said.

"Aye, aye captain!" in unison, Connor and Travis guided our purposely scattered group on to the winter street, snow falling gently from the night sky.

I was walking side by side Chris the whole time, holding his hand to make it seem like we were just a young couple strolling about. He showed no sign of blushing or nervousness because I knew that Chris only had feelings for me as a sister or friend; nothing more.

But I did notice Lucas giving him a couple of sad looks whenever the boy glanced back at us.

I sighed deeply and walked closer against Chris whenever there was gang looking people on the street coming toward us. He would notice and give my hand a tight squeeze, almost as though reading my mind about the bad experience I once had with gangsters.

The family of us, except for Beckendorf though because he wanted to stay home and not get involved in this scheme, nodded to each other as Malcolm, Chris, and I took the first steps into the small gas station shop. We absently browsed through aisles pretending to be shopping, Chris and I giving small giggles every here and there to seem like we just two harmless kids in love.

Next came Lee into the shop, purposely leaving the entrance door open a little longer to give Eclipse time to slip in. the skinny white wolf seemed harmless sitting there by the door out of sight from the man behind the counter, you just had to see this as a little too easy for us.

I took a deep breath, gazing my eyes over the short aisles to see Justin and the Stoll brothers loitering around the front entrance. They still all had scarves over their noses and cakeholes that I shivered at how much they resembled crooks on the streets. But going with this idea and plan, maybe we were crooks after all.

I gave Justin three slow blinks and a nod of the heads, him nodding back solemnly afterward.

"AHHH!" I stretched out my body and shook rapidly, knocking down some of the merchandise as I collapsed to the ground.

_Show me how to lie, _

_You're getting better all the time_

_And turning all against the one_

_It's an art that's hard to teach._

"Christian!" I chocked out. "Help me Chri-!" I made my body shake even more, jerking around to act like I was having a seizure.

"Susan, oh my god, Susan!" Chris/ Christian kneeled down beside me, unbuckling my jacket as a person should do if this situation was real. "Hang in there baby, I'll get you help."

_Another clever word sets off an unsuspecting herd_.

_And as you step back into line_

"Hey what's going on?" said the man behind the counter. He refrained from his position and came to kneel beside me, a worried look on his face as he saw my trembling body.

_A mob jumps to their feet_

From outside the store Justin, Lucas, Ethan, Connor, and Travis came in, secretly changing the OPEN sign to CLOSED.

_Now dance sucker dance_

I didn't even have to take another blink before my wolf had tackled the guy and sent him sprawling across the ground, stopping only with when Eclipse was on top of the man's back and saliva dripping onto his neck.

_Man he never had the chance_

I lifted myself of the ground and helped Ethan disable all of the cameras in the store, ripping away their wires or crushing their lenses with our family's two swords.

_And no one even knew_

_It was really only you_

I sneaked a glance at Justin, my eldest brother who was now stuffing goods into his bag yet still being able to catch my eyes. At the same time we gave each other secret nods as his idea was going according to plan.

_And now you seal the way_

_Take him out today_

While Ethan and I were busy with the security cameras, Chris had duct tapped the man's mouth and tied his ankles and wrists together. Eclipse had been only growling at the man while showing his terrifying yellow eyes and razor sharp wolf teeth.

_Nice work you did_

_You're gonna go far kid…_

I gave Chris a pat on the back once he had blinded the man with his own scarf, tying it around the stranger's head for good measure. I nodded my head to the rest of the shop, neither of us objecting as we opened our bags and began pouring goods into them.

_With a thousand lies and a good disguise,_

_Hit em right between the eyes, _

_Hit em right between the eyes_

_When you wanna go away _

_Nothin' more to say_

_See the lightning in your eyes_

_See em runnin' for their lives_

Everybody in our family was stealing what we could: candy bars, medicine supplies, bottles of water, pocketknives, and lighters… dang it felt like such a free for all.

_Slowly outta line and drifting closer in your sights _

_So play it out I'm wide awake _

_It's the same about me…_

Connor and Travis were having a wild time stealing what they could. I swear, the looks on their faces was almost even scary looking.

_There's something in your way _

_And now someone is gonna pay_

_And if you can't get what you want_

_Well then it's all because of me_

I remember grabbing some food packages when I saw crying in a hidden corner of the store. I knew that the rest of my family was elsewhere in the shop, so I checked out the corner and sure enough, a little girl was huddling there holding a small teddy bear.

I must've looked like a monster with half my face covered and grime all over my unwashed clothes. I decided then that it was time to move out and leave that poor girl alone.

"Out! Out!" I yelled. "Time to pack up boys! Out! Out now!"

Without hesitating everyone obeyed, shuffling out the door in attempt to not catch any unwanted attention.

Chris and I were the only ones who stayed back, bringing up the rear as the rest left the tiny store.

_Now dance sucker dance _

_Man I never had a chance_

_And no one even knew_

_It was really only you_

"Wait," Chris held me back, directing to the back of the store where the poor man was bundled up behind the counter.

_And now you lead the way _

"Watch this." Chris snapped his fingers and showed me how to do it, concentrating how as we did it together one last time.

_Show the lie to take _

"A gang named Godly Demons robbed your store." Chris said. Just like that together we (but mostly him) had manipulated the Mist.

_Nice work you did_

I gave Chris an encouraging nod as we both headed out the store, following our family's trail through the sidewalks and streets of New York. Though side by side with my brother, I was no longer afraid. I actually even threw a gangster looking man a dirty look before taking off toward the apartment's location.

_You're gonna go far kid…._

**Okay I know that that's not the entire song but it was what I could fit in. it's called You're Gonna Go Far Kid by the Offspring and is totally awesome, though if you listen to it while reading the chapter it's not really that good. Though heads up that all along the plan/idea of Justin's was to rob a store and get as many stuff as possible to last for weeks. **

** Pretty sly of him but Justin's been out on the streets for almost two years now, minds like his tend to turn reckless or "evil."**

** But anyway, REVIEW! I want to hear what you think about Chris now that he's turning more and more into a child of Hermes! Lol **


	26. I Just Want You To Know Who I Am

**Author's Note: let's give a round of applause to my awesome beta reader AlvaBlueFyre! She is so freaking cool with her story it's called ****Book One Arrival****. Its sooo good ya'll should check it out! **

Ever since the raid, nobody has ever felt so well fed and cozy. We all got food to last us for weeks (if we didn't press ourselves to eat more than enough), and so many lighters and knives that each of us could have two of each. Justin had gotten us actual milk and juice during the raid that my mouth was watery when I saw the two whole gallons of liquid. "I'm in Olympian heaven…" I said to Ethan once I took my first full gulp of milk in weeks. "Damn this tastes so good…" I forgive myself of selfishness and held the gallon above Eclipse's head so that he could do a waterfall of the milk.

_Mmm… _Eclipse licked his snout free of any white liquid and began searching the floor for any stray drops.

"Alright now I think that's enough for tonight." Justin took the gallon of milk from me and told everybody get ready for slumber. "It's already past midnight anyway." He said.

"But I'm not tired." Connor whined like a little kid.

Justin shot the Stoll brother look then shook his head, walking out of the room murmuring something about "taking care of Silena being easier than this."

"Well then…" Connor got us all up and headed to the room where we all slept since sleeping in the main room was a little dangerous with all the fragile windows there. Everybody got to their usual spot on the ground or along the walls and dragged up whatever warm blankets we could claim.

"Good night lads." I sighed once we had all gotten comfortable and warm. "Sweet dreams and don't let the bed bugs bite."

"You too Selene, good night," Lee rolled over on his side, back facing all of us.

"Night." Everybody else said.

We all curled up tighter in our blankets and listened to each other's breathing, a rhythmic music falling over all eleven of us. The darkness in the room was barely a bother since I could still see all of my brother's faces in the distance. There was Chris lying on his tummy with hand palms as a makeshift pillow. Connor and Travis, the blood brothers sleeping side by side with each other for comfort. Beckendorf, the darkest body in the midst of us all but still using a bright white blanket to keep himself warm. And then there's Lucas… damn Lucas.

He was sleeping on his side with elbows bent and hands under his head, whole body breathing slowly in the music of a heart's beat. A small blanket was pulled over his torso and that cinnamon scent of his… that strong, rich, and plentiful cinnamon scent of his. It was always so good and nice and reminded me of biscuits being sold back in London. I wonder if he knew that I always felt calm whenever I smelled cinnamon.

When I had first met the family, the original members I mean, (Justin, Lee, Beckendorf, Chris and Ethan), Lucas hadn't even come into the picture by that time. But then the exact day I left the family to go back to the streets, Chris had discovered Lucas. The poor boy was only half conscious when Chris found him inside an abandoned alley, terrible for me to think that Lucas was passed out and almost dead before Chris fed him ambrosia and nectar.

"Where am I?" Lucas had asked. There was a small red welt on his forehead. "Who are you? What am I doing here?"

"Shhh. Don't talk; save your strength." Chris took a first aid kit out and tended to Lucas's wounds the way he had been taught; Gauze up the big fleshy cuts, add infection fighting cream to the red burns, set in place the dislocated body parts; given the extra practice Chris could be just as good as Lee in doctoring.

"Alright now, I'm going to carry you okay? Try not to cry out in pain." Chris set his arms under the boy as Lucas squeezed his eyes shut, biting on to a rag to keep his sanity.

"w-wait," Lucas said, "Wh-where are you taking me? My parents won't do anything to help me."

"Well don't worry then," the smile on Chris's face was only one of hope; "I'm taking you home."

That was the first night that Lucas Cashier met a half blood of the family. Thanks to the ambrosia and nectar he was given, the ten year old was back on his feet within the next morning. No more bruises, cuts, or scrapes coating his skin so he decided to go out into the night and watch the New Year's Parade. Only instead he saved mine and Eclipse's life from two Cyclopes, no hesitating when charging into action to save a fellow half blood.

"I didn't care if I died," Lucas said to me, "as long as someone else survived for me."

I nodded and took a sip of water, blinking a bit to show that I understood.

Lucas shook the black hair out of his face and gazed somewhere else, lost in thoughts through the look of his eyes. We were at the Apartment sitting out on the fire escape, blankets wrapping around our bodies as we watched the sun rise through the skyscrapers. It was only slightly chilly and Eclipse was back inside watching over everybody else. I figured that I could relax at this moment and not have to worry about what the usual street kid has to worry about. It actually felt nice I guess.

"So what's the deal with you?" Lucas asked after a moment of silence. "How did you come to be a runner?"

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Runner?"

"Runaway," he explained. "People just say 'runner' instead to keep the cops clueless. Well, most of the time anyway but you know what I mean."

"Oh…" I thought about saying something else, something to change the subject since I didn't exactly want to explain what happened before I met the family.

"It's okay if you don't want to say," Lucas sighed. "I get it if you want to keep your life a secret."

"I…" damn what could I say? _"No, actually I was deceived by a fourteen year old Daughter of Hermes who ditched me when the coppers came knocking on our door. Oh and also my parents set me out to sea in a box that I stayed in for a month before coming to London. After that, I stayed in an orphanage for six years under the custody of banjaxed nuns who would commit a blag for money!" _Yeah right, he would just think that I was a barmy. 

"Did you have siblings?" Lucas randomly asked after a moment of silence. He seemed wistful to know the answer for some reason.

"No." I immediately said. "I don't think so. Siblings were just… not in my life." I couldn't consider Angela a sister anymore and the girls at the orphanage where just a total pain in the flange. No way was I going to consider them as siblings.

"What about you?" I asked. "Big or small family?"

Lucas shrugged and looked away; there was a cloud in his baby blue eyes. "No siblings. Just a mom and step dad."

"Were they nice?" stupid question yes, but when you're a demi god/goddess, parents are not always the type to take you out for ice cream every Saturday. They just tend to not get the award for Best Mom/Dad of the Year okay?

"My parents were… unlike any other people." Lucas started off. He was slow at choosing his descriptive words. "They had a… unique way of raising me."

I raised an eyebrow but didn't push with words. Obviously this subject was something Lucas didn't want to talk about anymore.

"Selene! Lucas!" Ethan called from inside the Apartment. "Where are you guys?"

"Out here! On the fire escape!" Lucas called back. He sighed heavily and his shoulder's dropped. I guess our time together was over.

Lucas stood up from his spot on the fire escape and opened the window behind him, disappearing into the building before I knew it.

In my heavy British accent I said loudly to myself, "Well Life, m' old fruit, it's time to admit that you're sending me off my rocker and getting me on my face to head off to the queer street with all of the other claret blaging loops." (_Translation? 'My life is crazy and mad and I feel very drunk/ stoned about it so I know now that I'm going into a very bad situation later on.'_

"Oh and Selene?" I looked behind me to see Lucas poking his head out the window.

"Yeah lad?"

He gave a wily grin and switched his American accent to a British one. "Happy Valentine's Day, may Aphrodite and Eros know where to aim when it comes to your ass."

I threw my water bottle at him a millisecond before he went back inside.

**Author's Note: Alright Arora, I hope you like this scene. I've tried really hard to make it good… **

The night was still busy as Valentine's Day was going on its full course; cars were honking loudly, people were yelling at each other, and restraints were busy with serving dining and laughing couples. It was only the family feeling sober as they all stood in a circle around a water fountain, the rest of the park around them empty and deserted.

Each family member held a red rose by their heart, Eclipse including as his was thorn less and gripped in his teeth. The hour was late and the mood was sad, for the family had not come to this sprinkling fountain for just no apparent reason.

"We've all lost somebody we once loved," Justin said out loud. He was staring at the shinning water in front of him, the rose's scent wafting up his nose. "I think we should remember them on this special day of love."

Everybody else nodded and looked down every once in a while, tears staring to pool in their eyes. Lucas took this chance and glanced at Selene, both kids breathing slowly and ignoring everything else around them. He could tell that she was thinking deep thoughts, maybe remembering her two dead parents. He pursed his lips together and gripped her hand; the act not of love and want, but of comfort and reassurance.

_And I'd give up forever to touch you  
Cause I know that you feel me somehow  
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be  
And I don't want to go home right now_

"I want to give remembrance to my mother," Justin said. He stepped up and laid his rose in the fountain water, liquid pooling out of his own eyes. "Mandy Cook." He whispered.

_And all I can taste is this moment  
And all I can breathe is your life  
Cause sooner or later it's over  
I just don't want to miss you tonight…_

Malcolm decided to step up next and lay his rose in the fountain, ignoring everyone else staring at his wet gray eyes. "Elisa Hernandez." He said out loud. "Friend and long lost love."

_And I don't want the world to see me  
Cause I don't think that they'd understand_

Beckendorf took up the lead afterward, laying a rose for his poor missing mother. "Janice Beckendorf."  
_When everything's made to be broken  
I just want you to know who I am_

"Molly and Mary Rodriguez." Chris said. He laid his rose gently in the water next. "Someday may I find you two girls alive again."

_And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming _

Lucas took a step closer to the fountain and stared at the water, his eyes scared on what to do. Unlike the others, Lucas had loved no one before joining the family. He figured he should at least give the rose to his father as a sacrifice. "Hermes."  
After Lucas had let go of her hand, Selene knew that she was going next after he had taken his turn. Clutching her rose tightly before letting go, she dipped it into the cold water. "Angela Morris." She said bitterly.

_Or the moment of truth in your lies  
When everything seems like the movies_  
Selene glanced down at her wrists, the tiny scars hidden beneath her jacket.

_Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive…_

Next came up Connor and Travis, nobody questioning them as they both put their red roses in the water together. "Sandra Stoll." They whispered in unison.  
_And I don't want the world to see me  
Cause I don't think that they'd understand_  
Lee was hesitant to go next but he worked up his own courage to do so. The blood colored flower in his hand covering the lemonade scent of his bracelet, Lee Fletcher did everything he could to not say the name with spite. "Leona Fletcher."

_When everything's made to be broken,_

As the last half blood to go, Ethan couldn't think about how much longer he could go on crying for his deceased father. "Timothy Nakamura." He said. Ethan carefully set his own rose in the water and let it float toward the others, the fountain's water now decorated in red flowers.

_I just want you to know who I am. _

Down on the ground sitting patiently, Eclipse whimpered with the last rose in his mouth. His yellow eyes were clouded in tears as well and as soon as that first teardrop went to hit the ground, Selene burst out sobbing as well.

"_I don't want the world to see me /Cause I don't think that they'd understand._" her tears may have been so strong but her voice was still just as melancholy. _"When everything's made to be broken…/ I just want you to know who I am."_

Brave and gentle Eclipse touched his nose to Selene's shin, looking up at his master with warm, hopeful eyes.

_I just want you to know who I am_.  
Eclipse gave another low whimper as Selene looked down at him, their eyes moving on to a new understanding.

_I just want you to know who I am. _

Being as brave as a lonely half blood or demi goddess in despair, Eclipse padded up to the running fountain and dropped his rose among the others. _  
I just want you to know who I am._

The rose floated on top of the surface and gathered itself among all the other flowers, the group of them all making a make believe pool of red blood. _  
I just want you to know who I am._

And so, the family watched the roses the whole night, lost in deep thought as Valentine's Day seemed a thousand miles away. Tears were shed in every one of them, some more than others. Lucas didn't regret being the first one to clutch Selene's hand because when the new moon reflection shinned in the water, she gripped his first. Giving him a reassuring look, she sang again to everyone else.

"Je veux juste que vous sachiez qui je suis… I just want you to know who I am."


	27. Lance Coles Where Are You?

**Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls was the song in the last chapter. And for the people that asked, I actually didn't cry for some reason and I didn't even know that it was going to be that sad… **

Days passed by, Valentine's Day disappearing as the sun rose and fell several times. On a random day I had caught Justin outside on the roof, singing Happy Birthday as though rose smelling Silena could actually hear him. But then another day I had secretly caught a glimpse of Beckendorf twiddling with an onyx ring in his fingers, two initials engraved on the jewelry's black stone: J.B; Janice Beckendorf, his mom. Though no time was as weird as the time I had accidently walked in on Chris looking at an old photograph of his.

"Oh, sorry lad." I turned away from the room and was about to leave, "I didn't know you were in here. Pardon me."

Chris looked up from the picture and shook his head, gazing at me with those Latino brown eyes. "No its fine, I was just going to go looking for you anyway. Come sit with me."

I nodded and walked over to him quietly, closing the door behind me shut. I didn't know what to say as I sat down crossed legged to the boy, his face not seeing me for a moment or so.

"Do you ever regret leaving?" he had asked after a while. My senses felt panic; did he know that I was an illegal immigrant of Europe? "Do you ever feel like you made the wrong choice I mean?" Chris sighed. "Like you know that when you leave, you're not only getting a new future but losing an old past?"

I bit my lip and look down, my eyes falling on the photograph in his hands. It was of two girls, one shorter than the other as they had their arms around their shoulders in front of a water park. Both girls had Chris's sharp nose and thin eyebrows, round tan faces smiling at the camera as they wore matching pink swimsuits. I guessed that these girls were maybe Molly and Mary, the people Chris has dedicated his rose to on Valentine's. He said that they were his sisters.

"I don't know if I regret leaving," I said solemnly. "Why? Do you?"

My brother sighed and shook his head, something hidden in his eyes. "No, not really. I didn't even have much of a home anyway. Mom gone constantly since I always reminded her of my sisters."

"Did she like your sisters?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. They disappeared after my tenth birthday. Maybe jumped off a building and committed suicide. I don't know really."

And people say I have a sucky life.

Time Lapse.

3rd person Point of View:

Lee and Lucas walked along Times Square, blending into the crowds of people as they got closer to the grocery store. They were both wearing their best non-paranoid faces as they passed any policemen or security guards, not looking them in the eye or anything. But sooner or later when they got to the grocery store and entered their restrooms, Lucas heard loud gasps coming from a group of girls outside the bathrooms.

"I can't believe it!" one of the girls said. "Lance Coles! He's missing!"

Lucas immediately stopped dead in his tracks and Lee bumped into him.

"Dude, what the heck keep walkin-" Lucas silenced him quickly and motioned to the girls, craning his head a bit to hear their conversation better.

"Oh my god no way! Lance's missing? Oh you have got to be kidding!" there was a rustling of paper as the girls looked at a teen magazine. "Says that police are trying to look for him as best as possible, have any info please call blah, blah, blah, oh here's something interesting."

Lucas tried to step closer to hear what they were saying.

"It says that Lance's parents are really worried about him; they want him to come home." The girls passed this information as nothing but to Lucas it the biggest thing he heard in his life.

_Parents? Worried? Want to come home? _Lucas thought it over in his head, looking at the girls to see the magazine with a boy's face on the front cover. Yup, that was defiantly Lance Coles: dirty, dark blond hair, light baby blue eyes, fair-tan skin. No way could Lucas mistake it for someone else.

He ran.

All the way out of the grocery store, through the streets, and away from his reality into the corner of a tiny alley. It was empty and smelled of piss, but at least Lucas would have his privacy there. He pressed his back against the wall and rubbed his face, feeling panic come into his sense. _Really? _He thought. _At a time like this, _Lance _has to come and ruin everything. Serious can't I just get a break? _

"Lucas? Lucas, where are you, dude?" Lee's worried voice was barely heard from the crowd's of people. The boy quickly shouted back to his friend and soon the two half bloods where in the alley, breathing heavily from the run there.

"What was that all about man?" Lee asked, huffing slightly. "The girls talking and then running away. What happened back there?"

"Lance happened." Lucas whined. He glanced down and saw the same copy of the magazine that the group of girls had been carrying. Knowing that he would regret it later on, Lucas bent down and picked up the raggedy, worn out magazine from the pavement.

He held up the page with Lance Coles' face next to his head, letting Lee see the similarities between them.

"_My_ name is Lance Coles'." Lucas said with bitterness. "And I'm the stepson of a two _very_ abusive famous actors."

Time Lapse

Eclipse laid on his back, sunlight poured over his fur onto his belly. He was smiling a wolf-ish grin, half asleep for the full moon was drawing near. The family was around him, not paying attention as they went on with themselves. Lee and Lucas had come back from going to the restroom down the street and Ethan and Malcolm were back from their sword fighting lesson. Everything seemed fine as it should be; only Eclipse knew that he needed to remind Selene of what was coming.

_March is drawing closer. _He said in her head. _Better get ready for tonight you know… _

He could tell that she was clenching her teeth from the other side of the room. _What for? _She asked in that accent. _Its only March. _

Eclipse sighed loudly and rolled over on to his belly, looking over at his master and giving off one of those 'you have got to be kidding me' looks. _The lunar cycle? Remember? Happens every month, the reason why you disappear sometimes in the night? Ring any bells here? _

Selene stopped dead in her tracks on the music sheets that she had been working on. She gazed at the wolf with uncertainty and fear. _You don't mean… _Eclipse was nodding. _Blimey lad! _Selene's smacked herself on the forehead. _I had forgotten all about that. What will I tell the guys? _

Eclipse stood up and walked over to Selene, rubbing his muzzle against her leg. _Tell them the truth. They deserve to know. _

Selene nodded shakily and petted his head, watching as the wolf's tail wagged playfully. _Eclipse, if they don't take it well then head for the streets. I got a funny feeling that they won't like this quality of mine… _

Time Lapse

Chris's Point of View:

Two things that happened today:

Lucas telling all of us that he is actually Lance Coles, the stepson of Alice and Joshua Coles; two VERY famous actors and models in America that are actually about to come out with a worldwide movie called Even Heroes Fall. One of the things bugging me about that though is that even though the Coles were sweet actors and wicked stars, they beat Lucas to pulp before he ran away. So because of that, Lucas doesn't want us to tell Selene his real identity. "I don't to be weak around her," he said. "she's stronger than any wildcat and I'm just a damaged kid." So to make it clear that we cared about Lucas, we promised not to tell Selene.

But any way, the second thing that happened today was Selene calling us for a meeting in the sleeping room of the Apartment. We all didn't know what she was up to and we were just about to find out. So! Let us tune in and see what this "wildcat" has in store for us. Shall we?

We all sat in a big circle, jittering from being still for so long. It was only sunset but the hour felt late because already we had a candle lit. Selene was sitting at a spot in the circle with Eclipse in her lap, the two making the perfect combination of best friends.

"So…" Connor piped up. "What's the big news? You wanted to tell us something Sully?"

Selene glowered at him for a second about the new nickname but let it go. She took a deep shaky breath and I noticed that she fingered a silver chain around her neck. I wondered if it meant something special to her. "Well," she started off, "do you guys know what tonight is?"

"Friday?" Travis chimed in. his face seemed to stretch in a smile when he said that.

"well, yes. But there's something bigger than that." Selene looked at us all of us individually. "Like, it happens every month."

"You're on your period!" Ethan whispered to me. I elbowed him gently before laughing under my breath.

If Selene noticed then she didn't give any sign. "It's the full moon tonight." She said blankly. "It means that I'll be gone for awhile."

And like a snap of her fingers, we stopped laughing and stared at her. "g-gone?" I asked. "Like… _gone_, gone?"

"Just for the night." She reassured. "From moon up to moon down I won't be here with you guys. I'll probably be all over the city, running, climbing, stealing. Feeling a rush that I always get when I'm on my full moon adventure."

"why can't you just skip it?" Justin asked. "You could get attacked by a monster out there."

Selene sighed heavily and petted her wolf. "Nonsense. I'll have Eclipse with me. Plus it's not optional. It's automatic."

We all shot confused glances at her.

She began to explain slowly. "I don't know exactly why this happens to me, and I'm not saying that it's because of my godly blood or whatever, but every full moon I get… energetic. Like when ADHD takes me over only it's added with a mental sugar rush mixed in with some high drug that gets me… unlike myself."

"So then let me get this straight." Ethan spoke up. "What you're trying to tell us is that you're going to turn into a werewolf every full moon right?"

She gave a chuckle. "No werewolf, I'm all half blood here."

"Then why do you have to vanish for the whole night?"

"Because it feels wrong to just stay holed up and not outside traveling around."

"But what if something happens?" Beckendorf asked. He had a rough voice when it came to talking about serious stuff like this. "What if you get attacked like Justin said or kidnapped? Worse yet, killed."

"I'm truly invincible the whole night." Selene said proudly. "Throughout the whole night I turn into some super being where I have actually survived falls of fifty feet and swallowing of bug poison. Trust me lads, I'll _be fine."_

"What do you act like on those nights?" Malcolm asked. "Are you like… a wild animal?"

"No, it's more of a… rush. Like I know that I can do anything _and_ everything without getting hurt. And that I'm totally safe while at it because I have the full moon protecting me. Sounds rubbish I know, but it's the truth." Selene shrugged, making the auburn locks of hair swish at her shoulders.

"Could you be dangerous?" Lee asked.

Selene gave a dark frown and wouldn't look at any of us for a second. "Maybe. If I get really angry or have an emotional wreck, I could maybe end up destroying something. That or ether committing suicide."

"Why would you commit suicide?" Lucas blurted.

My gut told me that he shouldn't have asked that.

_"_I think you can answer that for yourself." Selene sneered. Dang she looked mad. Wait a second... I peered out the window and even though New York was at full course, it was already dark.

The full moon was already here now.

"Damnit Selene." I whispered.


	28. Drop the Gun Adam!

**A/N I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to update in so long! I've been really busy but here's the next chapter and even though it only took me a little while to write it, I think its the most exciting. So far. **

** By the way check out AlvaBlueFyre's story, its totally awesome and sweet, I promise you. I'd also like to give thanks to her, Vanessa, Kayla, and Arora for helping me with this story. I probably wouldn't still be writing without ya'lls' encouragement! Anyway, **

** onward! **

Selene's Point of View:

I was heading out the Apartment's window once my senses told me that it was moon up. Walking away full with energy starting to hum in my veins, the guys all looked after me as I climbed up on to the sill and prepared to jump onto the fire escape. I told them a quick goodbye and said that I'd be back as soon as dawn came crashing through.

It was barely a heartbeat later that I was nowhere to be seen as I raced throughout New York with Eclipse by my side.

"I stand corrected." Chris muttered. "that girl's a total l_oba con ojos __de plata y oro__." _

Everybody looked at him with faces of "what the heck are you saying?"

"Dude!" Ethan said rather loudly. "This is America! Me no speaky Mexican!"

Chris was half way pissed as he sort've shouted at Ethan. "its _Spanish_ you idiot! "me no speak Mexican" yeah right! You don't even speak English properly yourself!"

"Well excuse me you little border jumper!"

Chris got an angry look on his face. He started stomping toward Ethan while pulling back his sleeves. "Who you calling "little," Squinty Eyes?"

"Watch it now you guys." Beckendorf separated the two boys before anything got physical. He looked wiry in the face as Chris and Ethan each stood on a different side of the room. _Five seconds into having Selene gone and they're already getting in fights. _Beckendorf glanced out the window, giving a silent prayer as he watched the city's lights flicker everywhere. _Stay safe out there girl, _he thought. _Lucas isn't the only one who would miss you if you never came back. _

(**I'm just gonna put this as a divider cause I don't know ****what ****else to do...)**

Eclipse and I ran like hell away from the store, alarms and bells ringing in our ears that we ran even faster to not catch any hearing damage. We each carried a bag, both of them carrying items that would be valuable to the family; toothbrushes, sweaters, socks, face wipes, toothpaste. It was all priceless! We wove in and out of crowds as three coppers chased after us, all of them with fat bellies that really worked against them in running. "Grab that kid!" one of them yelled as we grew farther away.

"So long suckers!" I called back as we hit the border of Central Park. Eclipse dived in first through the bushes while I trailed behind, crawling in the darkness toward a nice hiding spot away from the policemen. Through the ferns and bushes I could see clearly the policemen running past, blind to Eclipse and I crouched behind some plants. I breathed a sigh of relief when they were fully around the corner and gone, still shouting about me.

_That was close, _I thought to Eclipse.

Eclipse padded up to me silently with his bag in his jaw. A white ball of fur in a wasteland of green, he set it on the ground gently and did what I call his "Wolfy sigh."

_Think we should head down to the Apartment? _I asked.

Eclipse shook his head and said, _too many police men. Maybe you should disguise yourself. _

I glanced down at my shoulders, the two auburn braids that reached as far as my elbows. They looked dirty and tangled, dying without the relief of hair care products. I knew that I probably wouldn't be able to clean them for awhile, and then there's the issue with lice and all; maybe I should just...

I unsheathed a dagger from my side and held one of the braids out, closing my eyes as I let the blade of bronze cut through my locks of auburn. I did the same for my other braid, and again cutting more of my hair until it looked like I had that skater boy look to my head. And it wasn't that I was very uh, _chesty _ether so people might as well mistake me for a boy now.

_Better? _I asked Eclipse. I swung my head around, little small strands of hair giving me a light feeling.

_Better. _He concluded.

I gave a nod and thanks then we headed deeper into Central Park, our bagged loot being no trouble as we climbed up a tree and rested.

But Eclipse was on his paws (careful to keep his balance since wolves aren't made to climb trees...) and alert with ears pricked.

_What __is it__? _I thought.

_Look. _Eclipse jerked his head below us toward a small clearing of trees where a small body was standing. The body looked male, early teens maybe, blond hair and blue eyes. But there was something familiar about him... something I couldn't exactly put my finger on.

_Who is that? _I asked Eclipse.

He shook his head. _Don't know. Wait, look. There's someone else coming. _

Out of the clearing of tree on the opposite side from us, a girl emerged with cuts all over her wrists. She looked tired and frazzled, chestnut brown hair flying all over the place with gray eyes that were the color of storm clouds. Her posture was a little smug, like she slouched on purpose to not be noticed. And her clothes seemed ratty, ripped even to the point where they were just only used for cover up of the skin. Was she a street kid? She didn't have that wild look in her eyes, but as she talked to that boy, it seemed like a good guess.

"Aly! You came!" the boy's voice was familiar, I just wished that I could be close enough to see his face instead of the top of his head.

Aly smiled and gave the boy a hug, her face seeming to light up just a bit in the night. "of course I came," she gave him a soft shoulder punch, "didn't think I'd leave you all alone here right?"

The boy gave a nervous chuckle. He was rubbing the back of his head. "ha, ha yeah. Uh," he glanced at the clearing around them then at her hands. She was carrying a satchel.

"You brought food?" he asked.

"Yeah. Here." Aly reached in and brought out a roll of biscuits, their warm scent drifting through the wind up toward Eclipse and I.

We both exhaled them deeply, taking it in before realizing that the smell of the biscuits also had another smell to them.

_They smell like lemonade. _Eclipse said. His voice was like a whisper. I knew what he was thinking right before he even said it.

_Let's check __just in case__. _I said. _Before they get away or something. _

He nodded and together we silently climbed down the tree, careful to not attract attention from Aly and the boy. Together silent as stone, Eclipse and I rounded a couple of trees and hid inside the bushes that were in front of the boy. We were both crouching down and trying to peer through the thistles of them, but the girl Aly was blocking our view.

At least, she was until we heard police sirens a block away.

At instant, the girl Aly ran away like a maniac toward the sirens before we could even react. Her feet were fast and lithe, I was amazed at how swiftly she dashed away.

"Aly, wait! where you going?" The boy took of after her, not before I got to see a quick glimpse of him.

His face told me that he was Lee Fletcher.

**Time lapse! **

**T**he apartment building was only literally a block away from Central Park, police cars and men perched right there all around it. Through all of the blazing lights it was hard to see exactly what was going on, but Aly and Lee were running toward the site with worried faces; Aly the most anxious. She was crying as she ran, her long and skinny legs carrying her all the way there under a minute.

"Aly, wait up!" Lee called to her. "Aly!" he was puffing out air as he finally caught up with the girl; she standing in front of the building with eyes glancing everywhere and anywhere.

"I'm innocent! I swear I'm innocent!" a lady dressed in a robe was being held by two police officers, her hair all messed up and the face of a drug addict. She looked to be only in her mid twenties, old enough to have children, young enough to be considered a teenager that had been knocked up.

"I'm innocent!" she kept on crying out as the cops led her toward their car. "I'm innocent please just let me go! I have children I need to take care of!"

"Oh my god..." Aly was covering her face with her hands, Lee standing right next to her trying to make sense of it all.

"Look! Look!" the lady said. She was gesturing her head toward Aly. "that's my daughter Alyka! I have to take of her! Let me go! Alyka! Sweetie!"

Aly backed away as soon as she heard that, she took Lee's hand in a sign that she needed him.

An old police man came up to Aly, he asked if the woman was her mom.

"Never had a mom in my life." She said shakily.

The shock on the lady's face couldn't have been more scaring as she cried all the way into the cruiser and away from Aly. "but she's my daughter!" the lady sobbed. "She's my Alyka! I swear! Let me prove it!" the car door slammed in her face, meters away from where Aly and Lee stood.

"She's not my mother." Aly said stubbornly. Her body suddenly jerked as though she had just been electrocuted. She bolted toward the car which held the woman and began screaming at her then. "WHERE'S ADAM! WHERE'S ADAM! WHERE'S MY BROTHER ADAM?"

Lee ran up to Aly and took her in his arms, trying to drag her away from the car. "Aly! Aly!" Lee shouted. "Aly, calm down! Calm down, Aly!"

She was already having tears stream down her face and ruin her beautiful gray eyes. "where's my brother! Where is he?" Aly tried one last time to pound on the window of the car to get answers from the woman. Nothing worked as the car was driven away into the New Yorken night.

"Where's my brother..." Aly sobbed. "Where's Adam..."

Lee stood her up straight and looked into her eyes, saying and urging small words like "its okay," and "I'm sure Adam's fine now."

Aly kept on shaking her head and hysterically crying. "no Lee, no, no, no! Adam's not fine! He's somewhere out there! I have to find my brother... I have to find him..."

"We'll find him right now okay?" Lee gently wiped a tear away from Aly's eyes. "Just don't cry now, okay? I hate seeing you like this. We'll find Adam as soon as we can. C'mon now." he tried pulling her body but then the wail of fire truck sirens and the coming of a SWAT team stopped them.

A loud scream erupted from Aly's throat as she pointed up at the apartment's building. There was a helicopter coming from above that was shinning on a figure standing on the edge, the figure of a little boy. "_**ADAM!" **_She was beyond hysterics now, knowing that was nothing she could do while watching the figure standing close to falling down six stories.

I stood on the edge of the crowd, Eclipse by my side as we tried to make out the figure. I didn't have good enough vision to see it clearly, but I knew that the person was a little boy of about five or six.

_Gray eyes, brown hair. _Eclipse said to me. _Looks a lot like Aly. He's looking down, __not __crying. There's something in his hand, its silver and small. Its... _Eclipse's voice drowned out. He was looking at me with old eyes. I told him to tell me what he saw with his wolf vision, to say what Adam was holding.

Eclipse took a deep doggy breath and I swear, his yellow eyes were a few tints darker. _Selene... _he whispered:

_That boy's holding a gun and it looks like he's about to shoot himself. _

**Time Lapse! **

I was climbing up the edge of the building, getting closer to the top than any of the SWAT team members and fire fighters. Eclipse was down below with Aly and Lee, our secret revealed that we were here without them knowing. I was free climbing on the side of the apartment using the tiny openings between each of the bricks; something a regular person wouldn't be able to do, but hey. I was a demigod with ultra cool full moon powers. I think that granted me right to take even bigger risk and be too cocky for my own good. Too bad for the others, they can't be mad at me because I'll save Adam's life! Or at least, I think I will...

there was a blinding of light as the helicopter in the sky shined its spotlight on my face, blinding me for a couple of seconds before I could understand what was going on.

"You damn Americans get that bloody light out of here!" I yelled. Okay, I admit, it wasn't ADHD that made me say that but on ward with the story 'kay?

They seemed to obey for some reason because I could finally reach the top within seconds and without a spotlight on my face.

Now up on the rooftop, it was creepy. Worse than the Apartment's rooftop where Angela had committed suicide and Lucas had saved my life. Though is it wrong to jump up onto it and try to pursue that little boy to keep of from the edge?

I think not.

"Adam!" I called out to him. "Adam!"

The little boy moved his head slightly toward me, his body still facing the open air of six stories up. He had gray eyes just like his sister, and short brown hair that needed a better haircut. But the lad looked only five, seriously couldn't he have _some _common sense to have a play toy gun instead of a real one in his hands?

"Who are you?" his voice was high and small, tiny under the noise of the copper above us. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"My name's Selene," I said. "I come from the lower side of New York. Your sister sent me up here to help you get down. She's waiting for you Adam."

"Aly's down there?" he asked. "She's... she's still here?"

I nodded. Cautiously I walked a few steps closer to him. "she's waiting for you to come to her," I said. "she told me herself." Okay I was lying, I hadn't actually talked to Aly before but I bet I would if I could just convince this little boy to step off from the edge.

"How do I know that you won't just take me away?" he asked. "they took my mom away. Why won't you just do that to me?"

I hesitated as I walked closer. "because I know what its like to be scared like this; I've been in your place, standing at the edge of a building and wondering what the heck is going to happen. I didn't have a gun in my hands no, but lad I sure had enough sense to take a step away from death."

"Will I ever get to see my mom again?" he wondered.

I nodded. "of course lad."

Adam immediately recoiled from my reach and pointed the gun toward my face. "No!" he shouted. "I don't want to see my mom! I hate her! Hate her, hate her, hate her!"

Okay wrong move on my behalf. Better think fast.

_He's looking ready to jump Selene. _Eclipse's voice filled my head. _Hurry up now and try to get him under control. The clocks ticking. Pretty soon SWAT's going to be on your tail. _

_ Well then consider me off my rocker. _I took a deep breath and didn't play over my options. I just did it.

Walking closer toward Adam and careful of the nasty gun, I told him: "put the weapon down Adam. There's no need for that."

"why?" he was shaking now. Shock was starting to maybe go into his system.

I stepped up on to the edge of the roof, my new short hair feeling cold as it surged in the wind. I held out my hand sideways toward Adam. "because I'll jump with you 'kay? I'll jump down, so that you don't have to do it alone alright?"

Adam was a little hesitant at this but with a couple of more words, I was able to get him to ditch the gun and grab my hand. At the count of tree, we would lean forward and fall six stories.

"Ready?" I asked.

Adam nodded with a straight face. Damn, he wasn't even crying. I had to cut him slack for being even stronger than me when I'm in shock.

"Alright," I relaxed my body, closing my eyes slightly and holding on tight to Adam. "One."

_Selene what are you doing up there? _Eclipse asked. He sounded confused and worried. _Selene what's going on __now? You tell me before I get up there myself!_

"Two."

Down below, Lee and Aly were still watching the two figures standing on the edge. Lee was holding the girl as she cried and watched the whole scene in front of her eyes. "holy cows." Lee whispered to himself. "that's Selene up there." he glanced down at Eclipse as if asking, "did you know about this all along?"

The white wolf seemed to finally catch up on what Selene was doing. He looked up at Lee and gave a wink.

Dumbfounded, Lee Fletcher watched it all as people started to crowd around, SWAT teams and fire fighters trying all they can to help in their own way as well.

"She's done it this time." Lee said to himself. "Selene's finally hit the asylum bounty hunted list."

I took a deeper breath and squeezed Adam's hand. "Three." I whispered.

We both leaned forward and fell, air batting at us in a blur of a rush. There was a flopping in my stomach as I felt the cold whistles of air, all of it trying to strangle me with fear. Screams erupted from the crowds down below, the SWAT team finally coming up from behind on the rooftop. They reached out toward Adam and I, but one second too late led them to miss a grip and watch as we fell.

Already having fallen down two stories, I pulled Adam toward my body and held him tight in my arms; damaging my voice box with nothing more than a single scream, it took all of my will power to just say one word:

"_M__AIA__**!" **_

_**one word: review. **_

_** That and thanks to you all. :D **_

_** P.S log onto my facebook (the name is Emmarina Aniramme) and see pictures of characters from this story and my other one, Tears of a Violet Eyed Robin. **_

_** -Emmi Anir **_


	29. Alyka and Adam Parker

Previously on Sun's New Moon...

_ Already having fallen down two stories, I pulled Adam toward my body and held him tight in my arms; damaging my voice box with nothing more than a single scream, it took all of my will power to just say one word:_

_ "MAIA**!" **_

The rush of air; the feeling of it run through your body and onto every inch of skin you have. The wind just beating at you, a never ending mass were breathing in is easy. You just got to figure out how to breathe out. I held Adam tight in my arms with his face against my chest, tears now spilling down his cheeks but being evaporated just as fast as they had come. The wings on my shoes let the fall become slower, everything that was a rush now become a fast breeze. I was thankful that Lucas had let me borrow them for the night, using them for only emergencies. I'd have to thank the old bloke later on if I could.

Just had to deal with the mortals at the moment though...

Relived at being able to breathe properly once my feet touched the ground, I set Adam gently on the street and looked at him, none of us saying anything as tears became visible on his face.

His body was shaking, the feeling of it as my hands were still on his shoulders. The four year old had his brown messed up hair even more ruined and the clothes he was wearing were now ragged and out of place from the fall. I was lost in thoughts of looking at the boy and wondering what must have really happened in his life for him to want to jump down six stories.

I didn't even notice the mortal police, firefighters, and medical people surround us asking questions and checking all of our vital signs. They separated Adam and I but kept us close, only just bringing us to different ambulance trucks so that we could be treated for any injuries. I remember watching Aly run up to Adam, tackling him in a hug and bawling her eyes out even more because of how worried she was for her little brother. Lee also came up to me, sitting down next to me at the back of an ambulance truck after a nurse had checked and made sure I wasn't hurt.

Lights were still flashing everywhere but they had died down, news crews now coming into the scene. From what they were saying, the flying shoes had only just been a parachute which I wore in order to keep the fall from growing deadly. Listening to their stories and having them interview Adam, Aly, and I, the only thing in my mind was _THANK YOU SUPER-AWESOME-ULTRA-COOL-AND-COMPLETLY-MEGA-REFIC-TOTALLY-GREAT MIST!_

Though of course I went with the story that the mortals had and played along, Lee telling them to play along too since Aly and Adam saw behind the Mist.

"Just play along please," He said to Aly. He stroked her hand and brought it up to his face, gently laying a kiss on the top. "I'll explain later I promise."

After that little scene in front Adam, a news reporter came to the pair of siblings and asked questions. Both of them saying that they were too heartbroken to speak at the moment.

"Is that really you Selene?" Lee asked me as we sat on the back of the ambulance truck. We were alone yet surrounded by hundreds of people, all of them now calm and less frantic. Eclipse sat on my lap but with his eyes peeled and watching; the gaze suspiciously on Aly and Adam.

"It's seriously me lad," I sighed. My hand went up to my hair, "the only transformation I have is the shorter hair. And that's only the physical side. Just wait 'til you see me mentally..."

Lee chuckled, something calm and a sign that he wasn't freaked about me. "I'll sure say Sully." Arg and again with the nickname! (my name is pronounced SUH-lee-NEE, so you can see how Sully fits in there.) "tell me though." Lee turned his serious face on. "What made you come here? Like, how did you know in the first place to save Adam and even know that I was here?"

"Uhhhh..." Awkward much? I put a hand on Lee's shoulder and said playfully: "Well chap, all I can say is that _the moon's my teacher and I'm her student_." (**A/N Figure out the song to the ****italicized**** words and you'll get in ****on ****who Aly's and Adam's godly parent is.) **

Lee probably didn't like my answer but he just let it go. Best to not dwell on the little things right? "So you're not saying that you're frazzled or anything from the fall right?" He asked.

I gave him my owl eyes look. "Hell yeah I'm frazzled boy!" I literally threw my hands up into the air. "falling down six stories with a boy I don't know and having only these stinkin' damn shoes to break my fall? why yes. Yes I am _very_ frazzled." Flash the million dollar smile here and hope that the experience just goes into the back of my head while Lee doesn't question me furthermore.

Aly and Adam walked up to me just as Lee gave me a confused look, a look in his eyes that was still smiling and telling me that its going to be okay. "Hi." Aly said. Her voice was so small now compared to when she was screaming earlier...

"'ello." I said in return, my smile tried best to be reassuring.

"Um, I'd like to thank you." Aly stammered. She was holding her hand out to me. "For helping my brother."

Calmly and trying not to be creepy or startling, I took her hand and shook it. "No problem lass, just... just helping out I guess."

"I'm Aly Parker. You are?"

"Selene Mays."

Her face reddened. I chuckled. With my new short hair she probably thought that I was a boy...

Lee smiled at Aly and gave Adam a hug, ruffling his hair even more in the process. Eclipse couldn't help barking and coming up to lick Adam's hand, the little boy who was once crying now laughing.

Aly smiled and petted my wolf, her gray eyes being even prettier when there was an upturned mouth to match them.

"So..." Lee said a little awkwardly. "Where will you guys go now? I mean, there's no dad in the picture and with your mom..."

"She's not our mom." Aly said quickly. I noted that she was holding Adam's hand while saying this.

"Um, point still being of where will you guys go?" I finished the question for Lee. We both seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Aly was taken by surprise, as though that thought never occurred. Her eyes darkened in thought, her gaze glancing around at everything around us. "well..." her voice was small and sad, her hand gripping tighter to her little brother. "We never had any family, so I guess um..." she took a deep breath. "I guess we'll have to go to the local orphanage or something."

Lee and I snapped our heads at each other. With unspoken words, we already knew what to say.

"C'mon, Aly," Lee stood up and took her free hand, myself standing up and taking Adam's other hand.

"I know just the place-" I said.

"-Where you guys can live." Lee finished off.

Together as four kids, we slipped away from the scene and into the night, off toward the street of the Apartment.

_ ()~()~()~()~()~()~() ()~()~()~()~()~()~() ()~()~()~()~()~()~() ()~()~()~()~()~()~()_

Okay, so maybe trying to tell the family about adopting two more kids wasn't exactly the best thing...

Chris, Malcolm, and Ethan were out raged. They completely jumped out of their skins when I walked in the Apartment with the two kids.

"What, more mouths to feed?"-Chris.

"There's surely already too many in the Apartment dontcha think?"-Ethan

"We already have too many people in this family! With them it makes eleven kids total. Not to mention the wolf!"-Malcolm.

But then I explained Aly and Adam's situation, getting more questions from other family members.

"Are they even demigods?"-Lucas.

"Our scent for the monsters would put them in danger."-Beckendorf.

"Do they have the potential to survive out on the streets?"-Justin.

And off course, you have the opinions of the Stoll brothers:

Travis: "If they powers and gifts that could be useful-"

Connor: "then let them stay."

Quietly in a corner, Lee exclaimed in a loud whisper, "YES! Please, please, please, let them stay. _Please._..."

I glanced back at him then again at all of my brothers. Their faces all held some trace of surprise from when I walked in the door ten minutes ago, everybody expecting the same Selene; Not the one who looked like a boy with three inch long auburn hair.

Right next to Malcolm, Justin was thinking the hardest. He was looking Aly and Adam up and down, sizing them up and wondering how good they'd be to us.

"Ever had any runner experience?" Justin asked Aly.

Aly trembled in fear of the teenager. But she tried to keep her voice steady. "I w-was the all star track runner at my school."

Justin glanced down at Adam, the six year old's head only coming up to the teenagers thigh. "What about you?" Justin asked. "Ever had to live it out there in the real world?"

Adam cocked his head to the side, reminding me a bit of a puppy."What?" he asked in that little innocent voice.

Justin shook his head at himself and said to forget it, glancing at Lee he asked: "Are they one of us?"

Obviously by "one of us" he meant "are they half bloods?"

Lee shrugged and looked down, his hands in his pockets and hair covering his blue eyes. "They can fly." He mumbled.

Everybody else asked Lee to repeat that, not having heard him clearly the first time. But thanks to the full moon, I got every word crystal clear.

"They can fly?" I repeated. I looked at Aly, the eldest and most reliable for an answer. "you can _fly_?"

She shrugged modestly, her eyes looking at Lee as though asking "should I?"

Lee nodded back, his own eyes responding "go ahead."

Aly walked to the middle of the room in front of everyone, standing there in my view with closed eyes and a relaxed body. I thought she had whispered something to herself, but it didn't sound English. Had she been speaking Greek? I erased my mind from wondering and stared at Aly, her height seeming to... grow?

I glanced down at her feet and sure enough, they were levitating off the ground, just four or five inches from the floorboards of the Apartment. I gasped and looked around the room, catching everybody else's reactions to Flying Aly. Everybody was just as a shocked as I was, except for Lee who already knew about this; He was leaning up against the wall with his arms folded in front of his chest, looking pleased with himself in that goofy grin he had.

A few minutes later when Aly had returned to using gravity with shoes touching the floor, she was bombarded with questions on how she did that.

"was it magic?"

"do you have like, shoes that can levitate?"

"were you using the wind to help?"

Aly was surrounded by my brothers so much that Lee and Justin had to cut through them all to ask Aly more serious questions.

This was pretty much how it went:

Justin: "can Adam do the same?"

Aly: "Yes."

Justin: "Can you explain the flying?"

Aly: "Not really... I mean, when I run it just fells as though my feet don't even touch the ground. But other than that, I can't explain it."

Justin: "Do you have only one parent?"

Aly (a little uncomfortable): "Well, I've never met my father."

Justin: "Are you dyslexic and have ADHD?"

Aly: "Yes, and so is Adam."

Justin: "Right now Lucas over there is waving a metal pole. What do you see it as?"

Aly: "A bronze sword."

Justin: "What language other than English can you speak?"

Aly: "Greek and Latin."

It pretty much went like that back and forth until Aly blurted out, "Hey if you think I'm a demigod, why not just ask?"

It was like the air in the room had gotten a personal vacuum cleaner to suck the wind out of our lungs and replace it with plastic oxygen.

Connor and Travis were flabbergasted for once, unspoken as they were staring at Aly with matching blue eyes. Ethan couldn't get his chin to lift up from the ground and Chris was... well, Chris. His eyes all big and wide, its a miracle they didn't pop out! Not to mention his pose of sitting on the edge of the sofa...

"y-you already know that you're a demigod?" Lee chocked out a few seconds later.

Aly nodded, Adam copying her.

"Holy winds of Aeolus..." I whispered.

Aly turned her head and looked at me, a wink flashing in her eyes before turning away towards Lee and Justin. From that I knew that she was hinting at something, something I was jealous of:

Not only did she know she was a demigod, but she also knew hers and Adam's godly parent!

Damn lucky half bloods...

**Whew! FINALLY I'm finished. (never thought I'd say that...) Well anyway I'm SO FREAKING SORRY about not being able to update soon enough. The end of the year exams took me up by the neck and I could never get any free time. But anyway right now its summer so yippe ky ay baby! Lol **

** REVIEW! Anybody got guesses on Aly's and Adam's godly parent? **


	30. Bury Me, Bury Me

**The song used in this chapter is called The Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars. I don't own it nor Percy Jackson. **

So Aly and Adam Parker knew their godly parents and had known all along they were demigods. I know I'm horrible for saying this, but I was getting pretty jealous now. Count it on it being full moon and all, but seriously Aly was now just getting on my nerves from how much they knew. Adam's only six or something and he can easily talk in Latin and Greek. I've barely been studying the language ever since Malcolm offered to teach me!

I paced back and forth inside the Apartment, wondering whether I should stay or go for the night.

_ "_he's so young..." Justin was talking to Lee in the next room, away from everyone as they discussed the situation on whether or not for the Parkers to stay with us.

"I know that Adam's young," Lee said, "but give him a chance. The kid's got some spunk and will stay out of the way."

"but is it healthy for him to live like this?" Justin's voice grew lower. "We basically live in dirt and filth; our water supply is relying on the rain and we certainly lack of good bathing and showers. Is a little six year old cut out to be living our ways? It for sure would damage him, not to mention that he already knows who he really is."

A little bit away in the living room of the Apartment, Aly sat with Adam in her lap, the two trying to keep calm while everybody else whispered about them in the room. Call us rude about that, but once you're a demigod you tend to get used to people talking about you behind your back.

"But the kid isn't better off in orphanage shelters ether." Lee seemed to be trying so hard to keep his voice steady. "I know its going to be rough for him, especially because he's so young, but just give it a chance. Those who come in young learn faster than others."

"But those who also come in young have their childhood ripped away from them." Justin's words stung a little, the sprinkle of venom in them turning to spread all over.

I could hear Lee take a deep sigh from the other side of the closed door, his blue eyes must have been dark and unfocused. "we've all had our childhoods ripped away from us." He said slowly. "but look at Selene and Lucas!" My heart did a little jump when he mentioned my name. "those kids are only ten years old yet they are better at living than most other demigods. Selene all by herself fell down an apartment building holding Adam, trying to save his life. Lucas also took on a trio of harpies in Times Square the other day, the battle almost costing him his life because he was protecting our food supply and watching over Malcolm as he got us some clean water. Don'tcha think that even though they're kids, they can't take care of themselves too?"

Justin was silent for a moment, I could hear his heavy breathing as I stood outside the door.

It was too late then that I heard a loud bang in the middle of the building, about two or three floors down from us. Eclipse heard too, his ears pointed toward the front door of the Apartment as we crept close to it.

Knowing if I unsheathed a sword it would get the rest of the family jumpy, I choose to calmly reach my hand out to the front doorknob and turn it _slowly. _Too late then, disaster struck.

The front door exploded off of its edges, the wooden rectangle slamming on my face and knocking me down, taking Eclipse alongside. I heard a giant growl and a scream, my ears popping as I realized that behind the door was actually two hydras; both scaled and green, snake-infested monsters that were ready to kill my family.

Only the one thing you learn about me when its full moon:

When it comes to fighting monsters, I will do I _anything _to protect the ones I love.

~()~()~()~()~()~()~()~()~()~()~()~

_What if I wanted to break  
Laugh it all off in your face?_

I unsheathed a sword I had from earlier and lunged for the nearest hydra, Lucas and Lee coming to my aid too and trying to fight them.

_What would you do? (Oh, oh)_

The rest of the family tried to take cover or bolt away from the two hydras. I shouted at them to go pack their bags.

_What if I fell to the floor?  
Couldn't take all this anymore?_

A hydra is a monster that uses fire, its breathe and multiple heads being an advantage. If they used those weapons, this entire apartment would burn to the ground. I had to get my family out of here. _  
What would you do, do, do?  
_

I slung at the first hydra on my left, my sword fighting skills weak as Eclipse battled the other one, Lee and Lucas weary as the monsters reared their heads around.

_Come break me down  
Bury me, bury me  
_"you guys..." I was trying best to keep the monster's attention on me. "help the rest of the family, get them to pack everything they got and to leave by using the fire escape. This battle might be my last one."

"But we're not to going to leave you Selene." Lucas said, his voice was shaky.

_I am finished with you  
_

For a split second I looked at him, blue eyes of the sky meeting irises the color of silver and gold. With just that he knew I wasn't going to let him die with me.

_What if I wanted to fight  
Beg for the rest of my life?  
What would you do?_

"GO!" I yelled again when they didn't budge. "If I die its fine; but its you guys I want to wait for in the Elysium!"

_You say you wanted more_

I swiped at the monsters again, hitting one of the heads in the nose and making it stare at me with intense cold eyes. _  
What are you waiting for?  
I'm not running from you (from you)  
_

One of the hydras split out fire, my body ducking just in time before it flared up my body. Lucas and Lee leaving me alone in the apartment, only faithful Eclipse by my side. _  
Come break me down  
Bury me, bury me  
I am finished with you_

Two powerful multi-headed monsters vs. a demigoddess and her half grown wold pup. I had to take my chances in distracting them so that my family had time to escape._  
Look in my eyes_

Eclipse was on the back of one of them, his soft and beautiful golden eyes now vicious and full of danger. _  
You're killing me, killing me  
All I wanted was you..._

I tried to be someone else  
But nothing seemed to change  
I know now, this is who I really am inside.  
Finally found myself  
Fighting for a chance.  
I know now, this is who I really am.  


Strike after strike, lunge after lunge; all of those training sessions with Malcolm finally paying off as blood spilled from the monsters flesh but gave burns on my skin. Its fire breathing was growing more current, flames dancing in and out of my view as I came upon Lee's set of bow and arrows. He had left them for me purposely because he knew I was a better archer than sword woman. _  
Ah, ah  
Oh, oh  
Ah, ah_

My body was growing angry, power and adrenaline surging in my body as I knocked arrows in the bow and shot at the monsters, their undivided attention stupidly on me. __

Come break me down  
Bury me, bury me  
I am finished with you, you, you.  
Look in my eyes  
You're killing me, killing me  
All I wanted was you...

Come break me down (bury me, bury me)  
Break me down (bury me, bury me)  
Break me down (bury me, bury me)  


So many more flames... orange and yellow and red spiraling in my sight as Eclipse and I battled on and on with these monsters, only minutes ticking by what felt like centuries. _  
(You say you wanted more)  
What if I wanted to break...?  
(What are you waiting for?)  
_My skin hurt, eyes burned, and my lungs were growing weak. Smoke was filling up the Apartment, the hot fires tackling me to exhaustion. I fell against the floor, my body hiding behind a couch with Eclipse distracting the monsters by himself. I coughed up a claret of life, my eyes starting to close to show that I was defeated.

_Bury me, bury me...  
(I'm not running from you)  
What if I  
_What if I never came back to Earth when my eyes opened up again?

_What if I  
_That was a risk I was willing to take as I lay on the ground of the Apartment, flaming floorboards around me and two monsters fighting against my solo protector.

_What if I  
_Lungs failing again, eyes not daring to open, and body just ready to give up.

_What if I  
"I love you Eclipse. I'm so sorry." _

_Bury me, bury me... _

**Don't you stop reading here! There's still more to come... **

** -Emmi Anir **

**P.S so sorry for not updating sooner. Learning new stuff has kept me away from my writing :( **


	31. Now I'm Closer to the Edge

**The song used in this chapter is called Closer to the Edge by 30 Seconds to Mars. I do not own it. But turn up the song now and enjoy the show... :) **

_I don't remember one moment, I tried to forget  
I lost myself, is it better not said?  
_

I lay on the ground of the Apartment, two hydras now searching about in the flames for my body. I could hardly breathe, everything a blur as I prepared myself for whatever would be thrown at me.

_Now I'm closer to the edge._

_It was a thousand to one_  
_And a million to two._

The hydras roared, less flames coming out of their mouths now. I could hear a thump beside me, my protector Eclipse coming and licking my face.

_Time to go down in flames and I'm taking you  
Closer to the edge._

_No, I'm not saying I'm sorry_

Eclipse barked in my ear, a brave and strong fellow wolf that clamped my one of my wrists in his jaws and dragged me into another room of the Apartment; Both of us invisible through the fire from the monsters.

_One day maybe we'll meet again.  
_

I thought about my family: Lucas, Chris, Beckendorf, Ethan, Malcolm and Lee and Justin... all of them rambling throughout my head as I wondered when I'd ever get to see their faces.

_No, I'm not saying I'm sorry  
One day maybe we'll meet again.  
_

"_NO NO NO NO!" _Eclipse had gotten us to the room without the hydras following, his voice echoing in my head. I wished he would just let me die in peace. 

_"Can can can you imagine a time when the truth ran free?_  
_The birth of a song and the death of a dream?_" He nudged my body with his nose, whimpering and trying to tell me to get up.

The burns... I tried to tell him. The flames, the fire, the monsters... It hurt my skin so much... _  
Closer to the edge._

_This never ending story_  
_Paid for with pride and fate_

Eclipse whimpered again, this time mysteriously propping me to sit up and lean again a wall. A wall that had a window above from where my head leaned that led to a fire escape. That fire escape that led to a way out...

"_We all fall short of glory.  
Lost in our fate!" _Eclipse tried to say comforting words to me, patting at me with his paws and talking about survival. "_Selene... Just stand up and we'll leave through the fire escape. Please, while the hydras don't know where we are."  
_

_No, I'm not saying I'm sorry  
One day maybe we'll meet again  
No, I'm not saying I'm sorry  
One day maybe we'll meet again  
NO NO NO NO  
_

"_For your family." _Eclipse whispered. _  
_

_NO NO NO NO_

_I will never forget_ all those nights I had slept with Eclipse by my side. _  
_

_NO NO  
_

_I will never regret _coming into the family, being one of them. _  
_

_NO NO  
_

_I will live my life!  
_

_NO NO NO NO  
_

_I will never forget _every single moment I had with Lucas. _  
_

_NO NO  
_

_I will never regret _talking to Aly, saving Adam's life. _  
_

_NO NO  
_

_I will live my life... _

My life. My life that included a family that was still out there. They had to have escaped. My family... 

_No, I'm not saying I'm sorry_

Like I had just eaten an ambrosial Monster drink, I stood up as quick as I could and leaned against the wall, smoke still dancing in the air.

_One day maybe we'll meet again  
NO NO  
_

I opened the window carefully and slowly, the roar of the hydras nearby still humming in my ears. They might have not been able to see me, but they could still scent me. And find me.

_No, I'm not saying I'm sorry  
One day maybe we'll meet again  
_

One leg out. The other leg out. Just get out of the Apartment... Get out!

_NO NO NO NO_

_Closer to the edge._

The hydras... They were getting closer, I could sense their footsteps just outside the door of the room... Had to get out. Had to get out... _  
_

_Closer to the edge._

I willed my whole body out of the burning building, the flames attached to my skin now numb._  
_

_NO NO NO NO  
_

Eclipse jumped out of the window next to me and together we ran down the fire escape, his paws slipping once of twice, most of them close calls when I had to save him from falling to the death. _  
_

_Closer to the edge..._

My feet were able to touch the cement of the street below after what felt like hours, my eyes not daring to glance back as I knew that my once home was burned in the hands of two monsters.

_Closer to the edge...  
_

_I'll get the gods for that. _I vowed. _I'll show them what its like to have their world be taken away from them. _

_NO NO NO NO _

Oh how I wish my fate didn't follow up on that vow.

_Closer to the edge... _

**I admit probably not my best writing with a song in it, but I still say that this one's decent. Enough. Lol Review and you'll still get more because now that Selene and Eclipse have escaped from the Apartment and the two hydras, what about the family? What's happened to them since they got away before? Hm... Anybody also remember Ethan's night terror? **

**From Chapter 7: _"Gotta help her… wait, its cracking! She can't' make it out! Her-her wolf, he's slipping… they're gonna die!" Ethan shook harder and fiercer, his cheeks becoming soaked with tears. "They… they can't help her. She's on her own… the wolf… oh my gods... he's falling! No!" Ethan blurred out tears harder than I ever could have imagined. He started hitting and kicking at nothing, Justin and Rodriguez tried holding him down, but that boy was going into seizure mode or something._**

**Just something to think about while you write you review ;)  
**


	32. We Are the Kings and Queens of Promise

I stumbled and coughed, panting and huffing in breathes of fresh air. My arms and legs wailed in pain, their red and pink coloring reminding me of raw meat. The lungs in my body were screaming at all of the smoke inhalation to get out, Eclipse beside me gasping for all he's worth.

_Moonlight... _He couldn't even get his thoughts cleared._ You need to get into... the moonlight to be refreshed. Its... the only way... full moon.. remember? _

I nodded, gaining my breath slightly more but still feeling dead. Every piece of clothing I wore had holes from the searing of the flames, most of the cloth already having burned away by now. The Apartment was still behind me a couple blocks east, the hydras probably burning down to the ground with it. I fought back thousands of tears when it dawned on me that I was truly alone without my entire family.

_Oh Apollo... why has this happened to me? _

I sniffled and huffed in new air, Eclipse whimpering as he pointed his head at a spot nearby a cop shop. The tiny spot was surrounded by darkness, a pool of moonlight sitting there waiting for us.

_Thank the gods! _I slowly limped into the spot, Eclipse paddling along.

We stepped into it gleefully and felt a new sense of relaxation spread across my body, my own personal ambrosial energy coming from the moon. The burn marks on my body disappeared like wind blowing away grains of sand, clean healthy skin replacing them just as quickly. My lungs didn't felt like they were suffocating anymore, I could finally breathe.

I glanced down at Eclipse and he looked good as new, black singe marks on his white fur now gone and completely out of sight. His yellow eyes were growing bright, insanity and misery lost from them. _Its so much better now... _He said. _Moonlight is so precious... _He feel down on his side as though he were drunk. I smiled slightly but then realized that the scars on my wrists were still there. I regretted ever having cut there.

Feeling self conscious I ripped off whatever was left of the sleeves of my sweater and made makeshift bracelets to hide the scars. _Good as new. _I thought. But then looking at Eclipse laying on the ground again, I knew that we had to leave.

_C'mon lad, _I said telepathically. _Let's find our family.  
_

_~()~()~()~()~()~()~()~()~  
_

**Turn up one of the greatest songs ever: Kings and Queens by 30 Seconds to Mars. **

Family of 13 (Ethan, Beckendorf, Lee, Lucas, Connor, Travis, Justin, Aly, Adam, Malcolm, and Chris,) -2 (Eclipse and Selene) = 11.

They all huddled together in the corner of a dark alley, silently crying and mourning their loss of home, and family. Lee was trying to comfort Aly and Adam, hugging them both tightly as though he were the father, Aly the mother, and Adam the child; The woman and child both crying on the man's shoulder.

_Into the night_

Lee stiffed a sob, careful to not break down.

_Desperate and broken_

The entire family had all fled the burning Apartment and two hydras. Well, _almost _the entire family. If only though Lee hadn't left Selene all by herself... _  
The sound of a fight  
_

If only he hadn't let her go...

_Father has spoken  
_Lee looked up from Aly's face and looked at Justin; They both were thinking the same thing._  
_

_We were the kings and queens of promise  
_Chris and Beckendorf were together standing against one of the alley's wall, both staring up at sky as if to ask the moon about their own fates now.

_We were the victims of ourselves  
_Lucas was sitting in a corner, crying his eyes out and mourning for his precious Selene. He wanted her back so much, to also be strong like his parents belted him to be.

_Maybe the children of a lesser god  
_Ethan stood against a wall with his forehead pressed into a building's bricks, silent tears rolling down his cheeks while he prayed for his godly parent to help him.

_Between Heaven and Hell  
_Connor and Travis sat down on some old boxes and glanced at each other briefly, relating this situation from when they lost their mom.

_Heaven and Hell...  
_

Malcolm stood pacing back and forth, rubbing his forehead and wiping back tears. He never wanted for Selene to die. She was such a sister to him. _  
_

_Into your eyes  
_Aly lifted up her face from Lee's chest and looked at him, their own waterworks mimicking each other's.

_Hopeless and taken  
We stole our new lives  
_Justin wanted to punch a pole. He had let Selene and Eclipse into the family. Maybe if he hadn't then they wouldn't have died this way... Maybe he should have just not made this family in the first place.

_Through blood and pain_

Plus wasn't he supposed to protect them all?

_In defense of our dreams  
_Though Justin knew he couldn't protect them all at once.

_In defense of our dreams  
_No matter how much he wanted to.

_We were the Kings and Queens of promise  
We were the victims of ourselves  
Maybe the Children of a lesser God  
Between Heaven and Hell  
Heaven and Hell  
_  
Connor glanced up from the ground and glimpsed at the sky, the grim night slowly turning into a sober gray morning.

_The age of man is over  
A darkness comes at dawn  
_Travis looked over at his brother, their own blue eyes matching each others.

_These lessons that we learned here  
_Connor and Travis stayed looking at one another for a few seconds, a telepathic conversation going between them.

_Have only just begun  
_Together they nodded and stood up, looking over at their family.

_We were the Kings and Queens of promise  
_"we're going to look for Selene." The Stoll brothers announced.

_We were the victims of ourselves_

Everybody glanced up at them, Lucas being the first to go and stand by his half brothers. "I'm coming with you." he promised.

_Maybe the Children of a Lesser God  
_Aly and Adam stood up too and said that they would go look for Selene as well.

_Between Heaven and Hell._

Lee pursed his lips together, he remembered being the one who left Selene and Eclipse all alone in the Apartment. "I'm gonna go looking for my sister too." Lee said. "She's still family."_  
We are the Kings  
_The search party looked at the others who haven't joined, their eyes said that they were desperate and pleading.

_We are the Queens_

"I-I'd go," Justin's voice was shaky, you could see an extra gleam in his eyes. "but there's something else that we need to do." _  
We are the Kings_

Justin stood up and looked over at his entire family, searching into the eyes of everyone of them. He cleared his throat and felt water on his face, bracing himself for what he was about to say.

_We are the Queens..._

"We can't stay on the streets anymore. I'm sorry, but its time for us to find a new home."

Malcolm met eyes with Justin, he sniffled loudly. "But were would we go?" he asked.

Justin felt his heart drumming to the rhythm of a bird's wings. "We h-have to go.." He sucked in a deep breath. "We have to go to Camp Half Blood. With or without Selene and Eclipse."

**Shhh be patient... There's only one more chapter to go for the end of the story... ;)  
review me what you want to happen in the next story if it gets a sequel. :) **


	33. Ending the Sun's New Moon

"_To you, family is about how many ounces of blood you have. To us, family is about the pounds of friendship that take up for all that bloodshed we've gone through."-Alyka Parker. **(/Emmarina Aniramme) **_

Sunday morning. Breezes fluttering in the air, the cry of a bird singing to the trees, the crisp feel of the grass beneath your feet as you lay outside. Every sudden and single movement of relaxation and peace, a day free of all activities and responsibilities.

Cautiously and nervously Alyka Parker knocked on the front door of the Apollo cabin, listening for the shuffling of footsteps as a dear son of Apollo came and opened the door.

"Hey Aly," Lee smiled weakly, the gauze wipes and band-aid all over his body were painful. Aly kicked back the memory of how he had gotten them while looking for Selene and Eclipse back in downtown New York.

Aly chocked back a sniffle and put on her mask of a smile. "Hey. I was um, wondering if you wanted to go to the Hermes cabin... y'know." Aly shifted her weight to the other foot. "To check up on Lucas and... yeah."

Lee blinked a quick surprise away but nodded, heading down the cabin's yard with Aly. While passing the Ares cabin, Lee did a risky move by grasping the unclaimed demi-goddess's hand and pulling her closer to his side.

Aly glanced down at her feet and blushed, not breaking away from the close walk that they were in. Over the past month Lee and Aly had bonded more than ever, finally admitting their feelings for the other just earlier this week. They were a happy couple now with only the past's scars to heal and the future's light to look out on. Nothing could ever break them apart. Not right now anyway.

Lee and Aly ran into Adam soon enough, the little six year old clinging to Aly's free side waving a lollipop around.

"Aly!" Adam exclaimed. "Annabeth gave me a lollipop for passing my Ancient Greek test! Its cherry flavored see?" He held out the candy's wrapper up and Aly nodded proudly, smiling at her little brother.

"That's great Adam," she said. "you better go now though or else the Ares kids will take it away from you."

Adam nodded, popped the sweet treat in his mouth, and ran away; such a sweet little kid with nothing to worry about anymore.

Aly sighed deeply as she watched her brother go, Lee taking her chin in his hand and making her face look up at him. "What's with the deep sigh?" he asked.

The brown haired gray eyed girl dropped her shoulders, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear like Selene used to do when she was nervous. "Nothing." Aly lied. "Just... just a lot to handle I guess. Adam was my little brother while we were out on the streets, now... now he's acting as though I'm his mom instead of sister."

Lee grimaced, taking notice of how his girlfriend's gray eyes were mimicking the color of the dark clouds. "Its nothing to worry about," he said. "We're safe now and that's all that matters."

Aly nodded and laid her head on his shoulder, Lee holding her by the waist as they walked along to the Hermes cabin.

When they got there, out on the front porch were Chris and Ethan. They were playing cards around a square table, both of them looking glum and depressed. It was Ethan whom Lee addressed when he asked:

"How's Connor and Travis?" .

The Asian boy shrugged and turned around to face him. "Haven't you already noticed?" he said.

"Noticed what?"

"Remember how Connor and Travis used to always play pranks on us back in the Apartment?" Ethan threw his deck of cards on the table and leaned back, arms crossed in front of his chest. "Well now ever since we got to Camp they've been moody and depressed. They never want to play any pranks anymore and I can't even remember what they sound like when they do that annoying laugh. Its sad."

Aly pursed her lips, leaning against her boyfriend more. "w-what about Lucas?"

Ethan raised his eyebrow at her, forgetting it afterward and just shaking his head at her. "Its a hopeless case." he muttered.

"What're you talking about?"

"Go see for yourself." Chris stood up and opened the cabin door for them, Aly and Lee shooting him a fearsome look before entering the cabin.

Inside the Hermes cabin every little space was occupied. Sleeping bags, personal valuables, stashed weapons and food covering the entire floor that no one could walk through without stepping on something. Every tiny bunk was empty except for the one in the farthest corner, a blue eyed blond haired boy taking it up as he lay wide awake in bed.

"Hey Lucas." Aly stepped through the jungle of a mess and went over to her friend, trying to imagine him with black hair again. Ever since they had gotten to Camp, Lucas had given up on keeping his hair dyed black in order to hide his real secret identity of Lance Coles. So since then, the playful boy known as Lucas Cashier became the miserable bone skinny Lance Coles. Though never call him Lance or else he'll lash out at you. He was determined still to remain known as Lucas. For _her._

"How're you doing buddy?" Lee went over and sat on the side of Lucas's bunk, careful not to sit on the boy as he laid down with the covers over his face. "We missed you today at lunch." he mentioned.

"Not hungry." Lucas's voice was weak, drained even for going days without getting up and out of the cabin.

"Do you want to go outside and play with the satyrs?" Aly laid a hand on where Lucas's shoulder was. "They're playing your favorite game of tag."

"No." Lucas curled up tighter within himself, leaving a section of his head uncovered.

Aly reached out and stroked his blond hair. "What about playing with Adam?" she tried best to keep her voice steady. "He misses playing with you so much y'know."

"No."

Lee cleared his throat, uncomfortable now. "You know I bet the sing along tonight will cheer you up. Nothing like a good few songs right Lucas?"

The depressed boy grunted and shifted position in the bed, moving around to have his back toward his friends. "Leave me alone." he grumbled.

Aly's voice became strained. "Please Lucas... just come out of the cabin and see the sunlight. its for the b-"

"Leave me alone Parker." He may have not been looking at her, but his eyes were sending shards of daggers toward the girl.

Aly recoiled from the calling of her last name; nobody _ever _called her by that, not even Chiron or one of the camp counselors. Taking her fingers away from stroking his hair, she sucked in a deep breath and looked down at her lap; her mind weighing over her options on what to do.

"C'mon buddy," Lee nudged Lucas on the bed. "you haven't been out of bed in days and your health is failing rapidly. If you don't eat something or-"

"or _what_?" Lucas sat up suddenly and looked at his friend in the eyes, ice blue meeting his sky blue. "or what'll happen? I already lost Selene and Eclipse. I don't care anymore if I lose myself." Lucas went back to laying down with the blanket over his face, hidden tears already crawling down his cheeks.

Lee chocked up from the encounter, seeing his unrelated brother spike up at him like that. It wasn't like Lucas to do that. It wasn't like him at all to be like this. The boy was only ten after all, surely at this young he can't be so depressed?

_"He's lost the only one in the world who mattered to him." Lee remembered Chiron's face when they talked the other day about Lucas. "Give him time. The boy will recovered from his grief soon enough." _

Now Lee wasn't sure about Lucas anymore. Everyday when he didn't get out of bed was another day when he risked sleeping and not ever waking up again. There had to be a faster way for Lucas to come alive from his misery.

"Leave me alone." There was a flatness to his tone.

Aly stood up and proceeded to walk out of the cabin, not saying another word to her family as she left and went to go cry outside.

"Leave me alone." Lucas repeated. "I don't want you here."

Lee sighed, stood up and went to go follow Aly outside. Right when his hand was on the doorknob though, Lee glanced back at the bundled body on the bed. "Y'know _what_?" Lee turned around and faced his brother, hand still on the door. "You're not the only one who lost Selene that night the Apartment burned down. I was there too remember? I was also there when she told us to escape and save ourselves from the hydras, to go the hell toward freedom while she stays there fighting for her life knowing that she'll never see us again. I was there Lucas... And I remember everything crystal clear. Even how much I regret leaving her and Eclipse to die."

Lucas laid perfectly still in the bunk, not moving but listening for Lee to get out of the cabin. This made the son of Apollo mad to get no reaction from the Hermes son.

"You don't even see how we're doing do you?" Lee was tempted to yell at him. "You don't know how its like for us because you're always alone in here muddling over your own mess that you make harder than needed. Well what about us then? Don't you ever even hear Aly sneak out of the cabin in the middle of the night when she cries? Don't you hear Adam and Ethan when they wake up from a night terror, _screaming_ because every night they envision Selene's death all over again? And for Malcolm and Beckendorf! When was the last time you even saw them huh? When they check up on you because they're scared they'll lose you too? When you hear them talking outside the cabin about how they're almost ready to just give up on you? Really Lucas really. When are you going to _wake UP?_"

No response.

Lee angrily stomped toward Lucas and ripped away his blanket, throwing it on the ground away from his reach. "Selene wouldn't have wanted this you know. She and Eclipse sacrificed their lives for you, wanna know why? So that you can _live. _And certainly right now you are not making Selene proud while she watches over you from the Asylum."

Lee paced away from Lucas and opened the door out of the cabin, exiting with frustrated tears threatening to escape. He slammed the door behind himself with a loud thud, its echoes ringing loud in the ears of crying Lucas Cashier.

~()~()~()~()~()~()~()~()~()~

The ocean swayed softly in the nightly breeze, gray clouds guarding the sky of where a new moon sat. The scent of seawater drifted about the noses of those who walked along the shore, a family of nine out of thirteen coming closer from the Camp grounds.

Chris was the one whom was walking along the edges of the water, barefoot in the cold night while he gazed at the stars. Ethan, Beckendorf, and Malcolm were with him, the three other boys lost in their thoughts. From the other side of the beach were the Stoll brothers, Lee, Aly and Adam; drifting silently closer together while the moon rose higher in the sky.

Not meaning to ask it out loud, Chris said to the night: "Why did Selene have to die?"

All three demigods glanced up from the sand and looked at him, every one of their eyes seeming to be black holes. "Because it was her Fate." Beckendorf said bluntly. "Even we have to accept that the Fates have knitted our destiny in their webs of life. Its just how it is, you know that we can't change that."

"But what if we could?" Chris mindlessly began writing with his feet in the sand, "What if we could change fate and bring Selene and Eclipse back?"

Ethan careful walked up to the unclaimed boy and set a hand on his shoulder, shaking his head slowly. "She died so that we could live. So that we could follow her footsteps and maybe, also someday become-"

"Cheated? Out lawed? Abandoned?" Chris blurted.

"-heroes." Ethan said. "So that we could someday become heroes." He knelt down on the shore and touched the water, the sea's liquid crawling around his small fingers. "Of all the nightmares I've had," He whispered, "I always saw the scene of her death in the burning building; yet I did nothing to prevent it. We never even got to say goodbye to her..."

"We did the best we could man." As a wise son of Athena, Malcolm always knew that it was his way to teach them to live and let die. "She was our sister, nothing can change that. Not even her death."

"I wish we could have at least saved Eclipse though." Chris stepped back from the beach sand and looked down, finding out what he had spelled out with his foot:

**HELIA SELENE NEOMA: THE SUN ****OF ****A ****N****EW MOON. **

** GUARDED BY T****HE WHITE ****ECLIPSE. **

Shaking his head at himself, Chris watched as the waves of the ocean rose higher and washed away the lettering. He wanted to tell it to stop, to let the words stay on the sand forever, but every loved thing must be let go. He knew that.

Yet if it comes back to thee, then its meant to be. Usually.

~()~()~()~

Farther along the shore, Aly and Adam sat on the sand and watched the ocean, Lee and the Stoll brothers walking in the wet sand nearby.

"I wish Lucas would come out of his cabin." Lee blurted. "He's going to die if he doesn't come out to eat or drink."

"Well what can we do?" Aly shrugged. She moved an arm around her little brother and stroked his hair. "Lucas is depressed, every single thought and dream of his is of Selene. Soon enough he's going to figure out that the only way to see her again... is to die. We're lucky he hasn't already taken his own life."

"Don't talk about suicide." Connor blurted. He was looking down at the sand, his pants folded up to his knees so that they wouldn't get wet. "Or sacrifice."

"Our mom died by sacrifice." Travis was talking like a little kid who wanted to cry. "so did Selene and Eclipse."

"And they both wanted to kill themselves before they died." Connor said.

"So don't talk about it."

"and don't talk about Selene and Eclipse ether-"

"-as though they aren't heroes."

"Because they don't want to feel guilty-"

"in the Asylum for leaving us."

"So be quiet, please-"

"-because we're sad too-"

"-just like you guys-"

"-okay?"

Aly and Lee sighed deeply, nodding and looking away to the side. The Stoll brothers then continued to grieve, walking small circles along the seashore.

After a few solemn long minutes, Adam glanced out at the sea and squinted his eyes. There was a figure out in the ocean, he could see it clearly in the darkness. It was almost like a box of some sort out there, drifting along the waves closer to them.

"Aly, Aly." Adam nudged his sister and pointed out to the water, "there's something there."

Everyone's attention was caught by it as they watched it carefully, calling over the others from farther along the beach.

"What is it?" Beckendorf asked as he jogged over.

"Its like a giant silver box or something..." Lee pointed out at the dark blue waves where a dark gray rectangle came riding closer. "What do you think it is?" he asked.

Beckendorf looked closer at it, his eyes growing wider as the gray rectangle came just within reaching distance. Lee, who was the strongest swimmer out of all of them, swam a few twenty yards to the box and came right back; pushing the giant box floating in front of him. "Its huge!" Lee exclaimed as he got out of the water and heaved it on to shore.

"Guys," Beckendorf took a shaky breath, he seemed scared. "That's not an ordinary box... its a coffin. People build those kinds of things when they set a body out to sea."

Aly gasped deeply and looked at it, scanning her eyes on every inch of the thing. The top had golden engravings, swirls and patterns that reminded her of the sun and moon. On the sides were silver constellations of stars, the Big Dipper and Polaris clearly noticeable among them all. She tried looking for a name or something, _any_thing that would tell who or what was inside the thing.

"Sh-should we open it?" Ethan asked quietly.

"I think we should. It could be a sign from Poseidon." Beckendorf bravely unlatched the sides as his family gathered around them, everyone holding their breath until he would open the coffin.

"Okay on the count of three I'm going to untop it 'kay? One."

Connor and Travis stood bone still for the first time, not breathing, not thinking.

"Two."

Aly reached over and gripped Lee's hand, Adam taking her other hand.

_ "Three." _

There was an intake of breath as Beckendorf slid off the top and they all looked inside, everyone gasping and speechless to what was inside:

The body of a little girl laid on the bottom, a white wolf puppy resting on her chest as though they were both sleeping. The girl had boy-short auburn hair and pale skin, her clothes looking torn and singed as though they had been in a fire. The wolf pup had the yellow coloring of a crescent moon on his shoulder, the shape matching the silver pedant the girl had on her necklace. Each being's eyes were closed, their faces emotionless in the moonlit-ed night.

In one of the girls hands there was a small black MP3, in the other a white envelope addressed in Greek letting:

**TO: Helia Neoma **

** FROM: Hermes **

** RETURN TO ADDRESSED. **

Aly chocked up and put a hand over her mouth, holding her stomach as though she were about to throw up. "S-she's... sh-she's..."

Lee put his arm around her, frowning and not meeting her face. "I know." He said soberly. "She's dead."

Aly shook her head and sucked in a breath, her face scrunching up as she began to cry. "N-no... sh-she's... she's breathing!"

As if on cue, the girl's eyes popped open, the irises of a silvery-gold gazing up at all of them. She didn't say anything, only blinked and searched every face, seeing only nine out of eleven.

Selene sat up steadily, noticing a pain in her body as though she were waking up from a black out. Eclipse slowly crawled over to the girl's legs and opened wide his bright yellow eyes, meeting everyone all over again.

"Selene..." Ethan reached out a hand and touched her cheek, caressing her face to see if she was real and not a dream. "Selene, you're alive..."

The silvery-golden eyed girl swallowed hard and felt how weak she was, she didn't feel alive at all. "Wh-where's Lucas?" she stammered, her mouth was dry. Lucas wasn't there at the beach, he wasn't among the group.

"He's in his cabin, Selene." Ethan dropped his hand from her face and reached out to pet Eclipse, the animal accepting to his touch.

Selene heaved in a deep breath and tried to remember as much as she could, all of her memories felt so blocked and lost. Though if she was right, wasn't there supposed to be a fifteen year old boy in the family? The one with the blue eyes and golden blond hair, Selene tried to remember his name. It was... it was...

"Justin."

Connor and Travis gasped, sharing a glance before each putting a hand on her shoulders.

"I'm sorry to say this Selene," Connor spoke, "but Justin's dead."

"He died looking for you when the Apartment burned down." Travis said. "The hydras had survived the fire and killed him on sight. I'm sorry."

**you really think that I would have ended the story without a ****surprise****? You guys know me better than that! Lol XD **

** I know I'm horrible, you all wanted to find the fate of Selene and Eclipse and here's part of it. Only now ****with ****Justin...**** all I can say is rest in peace my brother. **

** As well ****though in the sequel ****you'll find out Selene's parentage, get a visit from Angela Moriss (remember her?), see the (embarrassing) first moments for when Chris and Clarisse met, and the epic fails of Beckendorf for when he first sees Silena! **

** But other than that, I would like to thank my beta reader DarkRoguePhantom for helping me sooooo much! (psst... take a bow! :) ) for this story I owe it up to her so check out her new story, its called ****Book One: Arrival**** and the first chapter is up so please, read and review it. As well I'd like to thank my awesome Arora for being a great reviewer and pointing out all my mistakes so that i could fix them. As well thank you Kayla, Vanessa, and all of my other readers for giving me the ****reviews and helping me get the encouragment to write. I owe to you guys to know that even th****o****ugh i doubted myself, ****I**** now know that ****I ****can write a great story. ****So now, I must write the words that every writer will hope to ****pencil in when writing ****a story: **

** THE END **


	34. SEQUEAL!

Hey this story Sun's New Moon (yeah this one, the one about Selene leaving England with Messenger Angela and surviving on the streets alongside her pet wolf Eclipse and her family) now has a sequel! The first chapter is now up. The story is called Eclipse My Helia Neoma: Victor's Journal. You can easily find it on my profile under My Stories. Its set during the Titan's Curse after years of Selene and the gang living at Camp Half Blood. I know that in this story you wanted for Selene's parentage to be revealed, well in this new sequel it will! Not to mention you'll see just how far Selene will go to keep her secret, and her life, hidden from everyone. Including the gods. Hope you enjoy! :)

-Emmarina Aniramme :) :P


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